In Vino Veritas
by Ceasefire
Summary: The Cavallone family is famous for their skill as winemakers. A family from Japan moves into their town and goes into direct competition with them. The two young heirs of the families meet, and sparks fly. D18 AU. Rating will increase. Chapter 4 is up!
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is the rightful property of Amano Akira. This is a fanwork written purely for both your entertainment and mine.

I asked for ideas for one shots on my LJ a while back... and the idea for this multi-chapter fic emerged. Thanks to azurecerulean for the original idea, to celen for proofreading this monster, and to my flist for helping me research a bunch of little details.  
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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

"This is the very last one?"

"Yes, Boss. That should just about wrap things up."

Dino managed to suppress the sigh of relief that threatened to escape from his lips as he crouched down to pick up the last box from the bottom shelf of the storage shed, but the grin on Romario's face told him that the effort he'd made to hide his relief had been for nothing. Carefully rising back to his feet with the heavy box securely in his grasp, Dino shot a grin back at Romario and headed for the door of the shed, mindful of the soft, melodic sound of glass hitting glass within the box in his arms. Romario waved back at him distractedly and walked over to the small work bench in the corner of the shed, on top of which rested a thick, battered-looking notebook.

"Do you want me to wait for you?" Dino called, adjusting himself until the box in his arms was resting against his chest.

"No, just got to make a note of the final stock count for the records and then I'll join you," Romario called back without taking his eyes off the notebook. "You go ahead and tell your father that we're ready to go, Boss."

"Alright. Thanks, Romario," Dino said with an appreciative grin, before kicking the shed door open all of the way and stepping outside.

It felt good to finally step out of the dusty, humid shed and into the early morning air. Despite the fact that his arms were already straining from the weight of the box in his arms, Dino paused to take in a lungful of clean Spring air before continuing on, shoes sinking into the soft soil beneath his feet. He'd spend the majority of the past three hours in the shed, and Dino was now free to relish in the cool morning breeze and the sight of the sun rising over his family's orchard. The ground beneath his feet was still damp with dew, and even the grape vines were so covered with condensation that Dino could see them shimmering in the early morning light. He paused for a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow with the back of one hand. The box he was carrying - full of bottles of wine ready for sale and worth enough money that dropping it would equal disaster - rattled precariously for a moment before falling silent as Dino once again wrapped both arms securely around it.

What he was carrying in his arms was his family's lifeblood. It felt strange to think of it in such an emotive way, but it was the truth. The box in his arms was filled with the wine made from the previous year's grapes, and everyone involved seemed particularly pleased with the results of their hard work. The Cavallone family had a long and proud history as wine makers, a tradition and livelihood that was passed down from father to son, from mother to daughter. It was their main source of income, the thing that had made their family so well-respected in the local area, and what had made their reputation great all the world over.

It may have been a tradition passed down through several generations, but it was also a passion, his father had told him since he was young. And now that he was almost in his twenties and his father was aging, Dino was right in the middle of learning to appreciate this passion, with the hope that he too would learn to love fine wine and loyal customers the way the rest of his family always had.

He exhaled slowly and shifted the box back to his other arm for the second time. He was passionate about his family's business, but he couldn't say that he enjoyed the early starts and manual labour quite as much as he enjoyed the quiet reviewing of their finances or the evenings he spent riding his horse, Scuderia, around the two empty blocks of land to their home's right. However, thanks to the annual fair, there would be no chance of relaxation until the late evening.

The Apocrifo Fair was the highlight of his family's calendar every year. It was their best source of local income, a chance to sell their creations to the patrons and gain the peoples' ovation for their skill and finesse. There was, of course, the wine contest on which their family had first built their local notoriety, but in addition to that, there were livestock and agricultural contests. The family's secondary sources of income - horses and oranges - would be on show too, and Dino and Romario would be in charge of those two things respectively. Dino's father, as always, would be in charge of the wine.

Dino rounded the back right corner of the house and grinned when he saw his father. Alessandro Cavallone was leaning against the side of the house, watching the truck they'd hired to take their product to the fair with an oddly specific look of apprehension that Dino only saw him wear around the time of the fair. It was understandable, though; the pressure to please their customers was immense, as was the need to uphold their reputation. This was the first time Dino had seen his father since breakfast, and he looked about as tired as Dino felt.

Alessandro glanced over at his son, and gave him a tired smile. Dino freed one hand to wave to his father, and immediately proceeded to almost drop the box he'd been carrying. He struggled to keep a hold of it for a moment, but managed to steady himself. He quickly decided that the best course of action was to walk to the truck and pack the box inside of it before he dropped it.

"This is the last one, Father."

"Excellent. You managed to organise everything quickly this year. And there were less damaged goods."

Dino looked as if he didn't know how to react to that, so he decided to ignore his father's teasing with little more than a sheepish look. Alessandro was still smiling as Dino put the box in the back of the truck. Once it was safely positioned against the rest of the boxes and crates, Alessandro walked around to the front of the truck and returned with the driver, who promptly jumped into the back of the truck to double-check that everything was ready to go. Once he re-emerged, he shut the back door of the truck's cargo hold behind him and gave Alessandro an affirmative nod.

"Now the only thing left to do is to get the horses into their trailer."

"We put them in the closest paddock for a run this morning, so hopefully they've used up some of their energy," Dino said. "I can go get them if you like."

Alessandro briefly stretched both of his arms over his head and yawned before refocusing. "I'll come with you."

"You don't have to..." Dino started, but Alessandro had always started walking towards him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Dino. It will be easier with both of us. Besides, I've finished what I had to do before setting off."

"And you haven't taken the chance to rest?" Dino questioned, and Alessandro scoffed.

"Too much left to do, Dino. Too much."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Dino said quickly. "I'm not going to slack off, and I don't expect you to do it either, Father."

"Then what did you mean?"

"You've been doing this every year for the past decade and a half, and you've been teaching me how to handle fair day for half that time..."

"... and there's no reason for me not to keep doing it."

"I'm not trying to upstage you."

"I know that. But there's no need to worry about me, even if this is one of the most stressful times of the year. I've gotten through plenty of them before now."

Dino nodded in agreement, but inside he was still just a little bit worried for his father. He had always been the strongest person Dino had ever known in so many ways - body, mind and personality to name a few - but his father was bordering on his fiftieth birthday, and he had started noticing the little things about him that he had never seen before. The stiffness in his joints, the slower pace at which he had started moving, the streaks of grey forming in his dark hair and the deep wrinkles forming around his eyes. His father was still only middle aged, but years of performing manual labour in the vineyard and around the farm had made him seem infinitely older.

That was his main reason for wanting to be more involved in the family business. He may not have been as skilled or as passionate as his father about the winery, but he could always learn his secrets, ask him questions that years and generations of knowledge would answer. And that way, he would keep the family's tradition alive. But until his father was willing to retire, he was not willing to try and force his father into handing the family business over to him.

Dino stifled a laugh and shook his head as he watched his father walk into the small stables near the house and reach pointedly for the horses' equipment, as if he could read his mind and was offended by the very notion that he couldn't run the farm as well as he used to. Truth be told, if his father had known he was worrying so much, he probably would have given Dino an earful for being so concerned about nothing.

Alessandro looked over his shoulder as he retrieved all of the tack they'd need for the show, a questioning look on his face. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing," Dino replied, feeling slightly more energetic now that he'd spent more time outside of the musty wine cellar. "Let's get Baracca and Scuderia ready before they get too overexcited."

Both horses were almost in the exact same place that Dino had left them that morning; Scuderia was still standing against the paddock's gate, looking peaceful but alert and enjoying the morning sunshine. When Dino and Alessandro came into view, he walked over and followed them along the fence line and back to the gate. Dino reached up and gave Scuderia a firm pat on the neck, and his father passed him Scuderia's halter and lead rope. Ensuring that Alessandro was busy trying to handle his own horse, Dino reached into his pocket and withdrew a slightly crumbly apple he'd managed to pocket that morning at breakfast. He held it out for Scuderia, and watched with amusement as his offering was practically inhaled. Scuderia proved to be in an agreeable mood. He tended to be a bit of a handful when he was worked up, but Dino was able to slip the halter onto his face with ease after that little bit of bribery.

Dino glanced over the top of Scuderia's back to see how his father was faring, and couldn't help but grin at what he saw. His father had managed to get Baracca under control, but the horse didn't seem particularly happy about it, and seemed to be venting his frustration through several rough nudges of the nose against his master's shoulder. Alessandro shooed him away patiently and finished fastening his halter, and Baracca conceded defeat and allowed Alessandro to lead him out of the paddock.

"Is Scuderia ready to go?"

"Just got to put his halter on," Dino confirmed, watching as Scuderia swallowed the last of his treat. Alessandro cast a suspicious look at his son.

"He was chewing something."

An innocent shrug and smile. "He must have been grazing."

"Indeed," Alessandro said, not looking as if he believed the story at all. "Come on, let's get these two loaded up."

Dino slipped Scuderia's halter and lead rope on, and then followed his father to the front of their home. Baracca was loaded first, and Dino let Scuderia walk around while the older horse settled into the trailer. Once his father gave him an affirmative nod, he gently guided Scuderia away from the corner of the house - he'd been sniffing at the vines growing between the bricks in a curious manner - and loaded him into the trailer.

"And that's that done," Alessandro said. "Guess there's no point in delaying it any longer. Once Romario gets here and we all get changed into something cleaner, we'll be going."

"Alright then," Dino replied, rubbing the last of the tired feeling from his eyes with the back of his hand and smiling. "I'm ready to go. Let's make this the most successful fair yet."

Alessandro couldn't hold back his smile at his son's enthusiasm as he watched him walk back into the house.

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><p>The local fair had been something to look forward to for Dino for as long as he could remember. He could still recall the first time he'd been old enough to accompany his mother and father; the plethora of different smells and sounds coming from every direction, the tight grip his father and mother maintained on each of his hands to prevent him from wandering off alone, the sight of so many other people going from one attraction to the next, usually dragged along by an enthusiastic looking child. It had left a lasting impression on him, as young as he was, and the day had been so memorable in the end that he hadn't even minded waiting until the contests his parents were participating in had ended. At the end of the day, Dino had helped Romario and the farmhands pack up their unsold products, move their livestock into their trailers and carry his parents' purchases to their waiting car. He'd thought he was helping at the time, but now that he'd grown up, he realised he had probably been harming their efforts at an efficient clean-up rather than helping.<p>

Now that he was older and the childish enthusiasm had died down, he'd started to enjoy the fair for different reasons. Once the difficult few early morning hours were gone, the day of the fair was effectively a day free of any other work. There was too much to do, too many places to be at once. The local fair was a busy time for their family, busy enough that he was mainly left to his own devices for the day, save for the contests he had to be present for in place of his father, who always prioritised the wine contests above everything else. The second reason that he looked forward to the fair was that it always put his father in a good, if slightly overconfident mood. Dino couldn't recall a single year in which their vintage had not been received favourably or not sold well. His father was always friendly, but the fair seemed to add an extra level of enthusiasm to his actions that Dino supposed he'd never really comprehend.

"Crowds are looking good this year. Some of the men have been here since before dawn to make sure everything would be running smoothly when the fair started," Romario commented, glancing at Alessandro and Dino in the rear view mirror of the car. Alessandro nodded vaguely and stared out the window with a vacant expression on his face. Dino watched his father for a few moments, but ultimately decided to keep his silence; his father only clammed up like this when something particularly irritating was on his mind. Romario, however, had no problem with questioning his boss.

"Are you alright, sir?"

"I'm sure that I will be once the wine tasting is over," Alessandro said, fingertips drumming against the leather arm rest on the car door.

"May I ask why?"

"There's going to be a guest judge on the panel," Alessandro replied. "Or so a little bird has told me."

"I don't think that a single judge will make a difference," Dino said.

"He's right," Romario said as he turned into the small car park at the back of the show ground that was reserved for those who had to unload livestock. "You've managed to gain gold medals for your wine every year for almost twenty years, sir. I doubt that a single person would be able to sabotage our winning streak."

Alessandro's lips curled into a small smile. "I'm not concerned about the prospect of sabotage so much as I am concerned about the prospect of this judge having no taste in fine liquor."

Dino smiled weakly and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. You've received the highest score for the past twenty years. And that's not counting the awards that grandfather won."

Alessandro nodded slowly, and his smile remained steady. "I suppose you're right. There really is nothing to worry about."

"Now you sound too confident, Father," Dino replied with a grin.

"It's not a good idea to be overconfident, sir," Romario said. "If you act like we've already won before the contest has even started, people might actually start believing our rivals when they accuse the judges of bias."

Alessandro rolled his eyes, and Romario chuckled softly as he turned off the car.

Once Dino was out of the car, he took a deep breath, simultaneously refreshing his senses and taking in the familiar, earthy smells of the Apocrifo Fair. Alessandro remained inside the car with Romario for a few minutes after their arrival. The tint on the car windows was heavy, but Dino could see that the two men were leaning towards one another, their lips barely moving as they discussed whatever they had deemed too confidential to share with him. Letting out a small sigh, Dino took a moment to stretch his legs before walking around to the back of the car and to the horse trailer. Scuderia's nose was poking through one of the small windows on the side of the trailer. Dino smiled and reached up to give Scuderia's muzzle a quick pat before unlocking the trailer door.

Dino decided that unloading Scuderia first was the best option; that way, there might be enough time for Romario and his father to finish their conversation, and he wouldn't have to attempt to unload Baracca from the truck alone. That didn't mean he was afraid of Baracca, or that he couldn't handle him - quite the opposite, in fact - but the simple fact of the matter was that Baracca tended to be slightly unpredictable around anyone but his father. He didn't like the idea of having to use the stockwhip to frighten Baracca either, and he certainly didn't want to resort to actually striking the poor animal. Dino would have taken Scuderia over Baracca a thousand times just to avoid Baracca's foul temper, even if Scuderia hadn't been his own pet.

He clambered up into the trailer and approached Scuderia slowly. Scuderia's ears twitched back and his tail swept back and forth, but he allowed Dino to step around him, unhook his halter and lead rope from the trailer and lead him outside. Dino reached up to rub his hand along the length of the horse's neck to calm him, and realised, with some relief, that his father and Romario had exited the car. Romario gave Dino a wordless wave that Dino returned, and then headed off in the direction of the stalls and booths that the locals used to sell their products.

"Ah, you started without me," Alessandro said, giving Scuderia a rough pat as Dino led him past. "It's still another hour until the contest, so I'll handle Baracca."

"Thanks," Dino replied, pausing to wait for his father. Baracca, obviously bothered by the crowds and foreign noises, tossed his head for a few moments when Alessandro tried to lead him but gradually calmed down. Dino took Baracca's lead rope from his father when it was offered to him and began leading both horses towards the makeshift stables at the back of the fairgrounds.

"Dino!"

Dino glanced over his shoulder at his father, and Alessandro shot him a confident smile.

"Good luck. We'll meet back here once the fair shuts down for the day."

"All right," Dino said, returning the smile before leading both horses away towards the stables to prepare them for being shown.

With any luck, he thought, his father would still be smiling that broadly once the day was done.

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><p>Alessandro considered himself to be a respectable, reasonable man. He'd worked hard to bring his family's winery further and further into the limelight ever since he'd inherited it from his father before him. He employed a multitude of workers, and expected them to work hard for him, but also knew that it was pointless to have hard workers if you didn't have their respect. So he treated them well, gave them breaks, let them know that they were valued as family instead of just an extra pair of hands. That didn't mean he was soft on his workers, of course; if they made a mistake, he made sure they knew better for the next time they attempted the job. He watched over the vinification process, made sure that the grapes were of the finest quality that their vineyards could possibly achieve, ensured that the winemaking process was followed correctly year after year, and made sure that all of the wines were treated and stored correctly in accordance to his specific aims for them.<p>

He loved his family's legacy, loved all of his employees like family, and wanted them all to keep going from strength to strength together. However, the sad truth of the matter was that everyone got older, and he could feel the strain in his muscles and bones with greater clarity with every passing day. The other sad truth was that he didn't feel that his son was ready to handle the business on his own.

Dino had been a good kid that had grown into a good man so quickly that Alessandro wondered where the last nineteen years had gone. He was enthusiastic, patient, hard-working, passionate, fast-learning and practically everything else Alessandro could have ever hoped for in a successor and a son, but he wasn't quite up to running the entire estate by himself yet. If Alessandro had anyone to blame for that, it was himself; perhaps it was the fact that he'd unintentionally sheltered Dino in his youth and left his introduction to the business until he was in his teens, or perhaps it was the fact that he didn't feel the need to give up the job quite as soon as his own father had. Perhaps it was a little of both, but either way, Dino was not quite ready to be in charge of more than the smaller jobs, and it was hardly a desperate matter. It wasn't as if he was about to keel over and die from exhaustion, but he could tell that his body was no longer tolerating the physical side of the business as happily as it used to. Even the box full of wine he was currently carrying to the fair's wine-tasting contest felt heavier than the near-identical box he'd carried the year before. He hoped that this one would be received as well as the one from the previous year, too. If their record was anything to go by, it should at least net them a high recommendation and another healthy intake of money from the sales.

Alessandro sighed softly, and blew a stray strand of hair out of his face. Perhaps he _was_ getting complacent in old age.

After what was supposed to be a short walk, made longer by the multitudes of people filling the showgrounds, Alessandro reached the large marquee that had been set up to house the wine contest. It was almost the same as every other year he'd been involved; the marquee was large, so clean and white that it looked out of place in the middle of the fairground. The marquee was easily the largest temporary building in the entire fair, thanks to the national and international popularity of the local winemakers. It was thanks to the reputation of the area that the town was able to gain attention from all over the world, and was able to afford such extravagance on an annual basis.

The air inside the tent was far more humid than the air outside, and Alessandro didn't mind. He liked this sort of feeling, enjoyed tension in the air that was so strong that it was practically palpable. It reminded him of his first contest, and this sort of atmosphere always made him feel more enthusiastic about the contest in the first place. It made him feel as if some of that youthful confidence was coming back to him.

Once he'd handed the samples of his product into the registration desk and received a familiar, confident grin from the girl who always assisted with the contest, he received his registration number and went to reserve a chair for himself in the spectator seating. He eventually decided on one just behind the VIP reserve row kept empty for the judges and esteemed guests, and he settled himself comfortably in it and waited for the contest to begin. The tasting was blind, but he knew the number that he'd been given with his registration, and he wanted to be there to hear the judges' comments and opinions.

When he'd first arrived at the marquee, he'd been a good forty-five minutes early. The seats gradually began to fill around him as the time passed, and just as Alessandro thought he'd get through the entirety of the contest without someone bothering him, he felt a rough hand on his shoulder and heard a shout of his name.

"Alessandro! How are you, old friend?"

Alessandro managed to get a slightly forced smile on his face and held his hand out for a handshake.

"Savino D'Angelo. How are you?"

"Can't complain, can't complain," the older man replied, shuffling into a spare seat in the row behind Alessandro's. "You in the contest this year?"

"Naturally," Alessandro said, his smile growing wider as the rather voluptuous woman sitting in the seat next to Savino's gave him an irritated look and shuffled to the opposite edge of her seat. "I assume you are too?"

"Yup. Gotta stay the course," Savino said. "Gotta get lucky one of these years."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Savino," Alessandro lied smoothly. Savino was a nice enough person, but he didn't have the same meticulous approach approach to viniculture as the serious growers in the area. Simply put, his idea of quality was cheap grapes grown in poor soil and then fermented into the most alcoholic brew possible.

"Ah, this year wasn't a good year. I was thinking of maybe packing up shop and moving somewhere down your way, where the conditions are better. The old Morelli place next to you still empty?"

"Empty as ever," Alessandro replied. "I think his son owns it now, but he's refraining from selling it for whatever reason. But the former Silvestri estate on the other side of that is still vacant."

"Not anymore," Savino replied. "Heard from the wife that it got bought up a few weeks ago."

"Really?" Alessandro said, unable to hide the tone of surprise in his voice. Savino's wife was the single biggest gossip, and he'd believe her word until he heard anything to the contrary. "That's news to me."

"Yeah, it only happened very recently. Would've cost the buyer a lot too, from what I heard. That's why I was hoping the Morelli place was up for sale. That place is more of a renovator's dream, if you get what I mean."

"Indeed. It's been empty for years," Alessandro commented vaguely. His mind was still running rampant with the revelation that the land two blocks down had finally been bought. Were they winemakers like their family? Were they planning to use the land for farming? More importantly... would they prove to be a threat to any of their business?

Alessandro frowned darkly. Savino seemed put off by his silence, and attempted to revive the conversation with an awkward cough.

"So... have you seen the guest judge for this year's contest yet? Doesn't seem to be one of the regulars. Couldn't recognise her by appearance."

"No, I haven't," Alessandro said, forcing himself to refocus on the matter at hand. "You know nothing about her?"

"Haven't seen her before, but she must be famous for something if she's the guest judge."

"Very few of the vineyards in this area are run by women. Maybe she's not from the area."

Savino sniffed. "Certainly didn't look that way."

"How so?"

"Looked Asian to me. Only saw her for a few seconds, but good Lord... the look she gave me almost made my heart stop..." Savino replied, before shifting nervously and glancing at Alessandro with unabashed guilt. "Perhaps that wasn't the right way of putting it."

Alessandro shrugged stiffly and turned back to the front of the marquee. He heard the start of Savino trying to salvage the conversation one more time, but a man walked to the front of the marquee, stood behind the microphone on the small stage and cleared his throat, abuptly ending all of the sounds of conversation from the audience.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the annual Apocrifo Wine Contest. Please welcome our usual judges... Leonardo Conti, Pietro De Luca, and Paola Mariani!"

All the regulars were certainly here. Leonardo Conti was a frail old man who had once owned a famous vineyard, and who prized tradition in wines. Paola Mariani was a woman about his age, who wrote the wine column for the local newspaper. Pietro De Luca was a man who was so round that he probably rolled when he tripped on an uneven surface, and had the red flush of a man who looked like he prized all wine a little too much, regardless of quality.

"And introducing our guest judge for this year... Mitsuru Hibari!"

Alessandro didn't recognise the woman at all, even with her name provided. Dark eyes, brown hair pulled back from her face by means of a tight bun that made her look years older than she probably was, clothing that suggested that she may have been unaware of the humidity the area experienced at this time of year. Shorter than average. It was only when she turned her gaze to the audience that Alessandro understood what Savino had been talking about; her expression was so severe that Alessandro was sure that the entire room had flinched beneath it.

"Signora Hibari is from a famous wine-making family in Japan, with a one hundred and fifty year tradition of viniculture dating back to the Meiji Restoration. The full list of her family's vintages can be obtained from the information stall at the back of the entertainment area of the fair after the contest," the announcer said smoothly. "Now, without further delay... the first contestant in the Nero D'Avola wines, please."

Alessandro looked down at the number in his hand; twenty-two. That particular type of grape was extremely important and popular within the winery industry in the area, so it stood to reason that there would be a large number of contestants.

He'd noticed two things fairly quickly. The first was that the regular judges were the same as always. That was the relieving part. The second thing was that Mitsuru Hibari appeared to be one of those people that was eternally unimpressed by everything offered to her. That was slightly more concerning.

"Contestant number nineteen," the announcer droned out after some time. The four judges were each offered glasses. They took them and took long, deep breaths of the liquid to try and pinpoint the aroma. They then took small sips of the red liquid, swirled it around in their mouths for a few moments and then spit it into the large bucket provided before being offered water. Unrefined as it was, it was the easiest way to judge a wine without becoming too drunk in the process.

"Bouquet is strong," Leonardo noted.

"The taste is rather heavy," Paola added.

"Leaves a hot taste on the palate," Pietro said.

"Utterly austere," Mitsuru said with a sniff. Her Italian was perfect, aside from the slightest accent. "Overly bitter to smell and taste."

"Ah, well," Savino whispered from behind Alessandro, holding up the contestant card marked with the number nineteen. "You can't win them all."

Alessandro nodded vaguely, but his focus was entirely focused on the contest. He wanted his product to impress. He didn't expect to get the highest score of the contest by default or anything of the sort, but he wanted his creations to do well and to live up to his reputation. And most of all, he wanted to impress the guest judge. Mitsuru Hibari had seemed unimpressed with everything that she had tasted so far - and Alessandro knew that some of the wines had been from reputable, even famous wineries thanks to the looks on a few specific faces - and he wanted to be the one to change her mind. If the announcer was to be trusted, she certainly had the qualifications to be judging... but he didn't see any reason for her taste to be so pedantic as to score every wine in the contest negatively. So far, she hadn't said a single positive thing about any of the entries, unless you counted 'tolerable' as high praise.

"Contestant number twenty-two," the announcer recited, and Alessandro did his best to look nonchalant. He knew he'd failed when Savino tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a knowing look.

The judges went through the usual, methodic, slightly uncouth process; sniff, sip, swirl, spit. The group savoured the flavours for a few moments afterwards, and two of the three, at least, looked impressed. Alessandro let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. That, at least, was a relief.

"A nice clean taste and aroma," Paola started, an impressed smile still on her lips.

"Quite charming," Leonardo agreed.

"The aftertaste is lingering a little too long," Pietro said, "though it isn't unpleasant. Rather sweet, in fact."

Mitsuru Hibari licked her lips once, and then curved them into an unimpressed frown.

"The aroma is blowzy. It is complex, but unbalanced. I find the plummy flavours to be unnecessarily aggressive and the peppery flavours to be too soft," she said. "If the flavour balance had been correct, the wine would have been much better. However... as it is, I find it amateur."

Alessandro frowned; wine was a matter of taste, as were all things in the world. However, he found himself to be annoyed with the guest judge's inability to like _anything_ she tasted. Perhaps she was being picky for the sake of being picky, or being disagreeable to give the impression that her taste was more refined than that of the locals. He wasn't angry, but it would have been a lie to say that he wasn't irritated by Mitsuru Hibari's attitude. The others judges remained impassive; if they were unimpressed, they were extremely good at hiding it.

"Ah well. Not a good year for either of us, eh?" Savino said over Alessandro's shoulder, and he was sure that the whole fair would have been looking at them if the older man had spoken any louder. There were a few muffled whispers behind cupped hands and surprised looks focused upon him, but he chose to ignore them all and focus on the rest of the contest.

The tastings of the other thirteen contestants' wines went by quickly, and then came the deliberations. Alessandro stepped outside of the marquee to get some fresh air while the judges decided on who obtained gold, silver and bronze ranks respectively, as well as the best in show. The fair was getting more crowded still, and he could barely hear the echo of the announcements over the constant hum of the crowd.

"In a few minutes, we will begin our annual livestock contests. We will be starting with the Sanfratellano breed of horse..."

That meant that Scuderia and Baracca would soon be shown. Alessandro shut his eyes briefly, and hoped Dino's luck was better than his own.

After another ten minutes of standing outside the marquee, Alessandro headed back inside and stood behind the rows of chairs, having lost his seat by leaving while the judges reached their decision. Thankfully, it didn't seem that he'd have to wait too long for the results, because the announcer had already taken the stage.

"We will now announce the results of the wine contest," the man said. "Our guest judge, Mitsuru Hibari, will present the awards."

Mitsuru stepped forward, three plaques in her hands and an unimpressed look on her face.

"In third place, we have Angelo Amato."

The winner stepped forward to accept his plaque and his congratulatory remarks from the judges. Although Alessandro recognised him, he wouldn't have said that he was a name to watch out for.

"In second place, we have Alessandro Cavallone of Cavallone Estate."

Alessandro walked from the back of the marquee and to the small stage at the front, ignoring the crowd's chatter and the occasional surprised look. He shook hands with each of the regular judges, and then stood in front of Mitsuru Hibari to receive his plaque. She looked as if she was annoyed by the decision to give him a prize in the first place, and Alessandro made sure to put on his brightest smile in response.

"Congratulations," Mitsuru commented, lips finally curving into a smile, despite her eyes staying carefully void of emotion. Alessandro found it half amusing and half infuriating that she didn't bother with trying to hide her displeasure.

"Thank you," Alessandro replied, holding out his hand for Mitsuru to shake. After a few brief seconds, they let their awkward grip drop, and Alessandro left the stage to make way for the victor. He stayed out of politeness, but as the first place prize was awarded - to a newcomer with little experience in the field and without any highly positive reviews that Alessandro had seen - his focus remained entirely on Mitsuru Hibari. She still looked bored, practically angry with the results of the contest, as if she thought that none of the contestants had deserved much more than her criticism.

Alessandro smirked, tucked his silver plaque beneath his arm, and turned to leave before the rest of the crowd did. People could say what they wanted, but it had been a long time since he'd felt this way; the best word he could think to describe it was _challenged_. Frustrated, yes. Perhaps even a little hurt, and he felt an uncomfortable pang of pain in his chest as he remembered Savino's insensitive comments from earlier in the day. Perhaps other people would have found the experience humbling, but he found it just a little exciting too.

He would leave today behind him, and focus all of his attention on the next year's wine and ensure that it would be the best that it could be.

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><p>The day was coming to an end. Dino stifled a yawn with the back of his hand, his skin pricking from the late afternoon heat. Although the agricultural section of the fair had shut its doors for the day, he could still register the sounds of the fair's night life beginning to stir from his place in the stables. He could smell the local delicacies being cooked, and his stomach was protesting loudly about not being fed any of those delicacies throughout the course of the day. He could hear the excited shouts and squeals of the people riding the amusement rides, and he knew he'd probably be able to see the bright, flashing lights that they used to draw people in if he bothered to go and look. But for now, he would enjoy the relative peace and quiet of the stable while he enjoyed his first real break since dawn that morning, and wait for Romario or his father to come and tell him it was time to load the horses.<p>

Baracca was still as energetic and twitchy as ever, though he had calmed down as the day had progressed. The ribbon that had been pinned to his elaborate show halter was now displayed on the door of his stall. Scuderia looked more tired than Baracca, but still reasonably alert. His ribbon was still pinned to his halter, as he had not objected to it as strongly as Baracca had. After all of the exhaustion associated with the day, Dino could at least say that their hard work had paid off. He smiled tiredly, leaned against the back wall of the stable and gave Scuderia a scratch behind the ears. Scuderia jerked away in surprise, apparently too tired to have realised that Dino had moved, but soon relaxed. Dino was almost nodding off when Romario stepped into the stable, carrying two spare boxes of oranges in his arms.

"Slacking off, Boss?"

"Not really," Dino said after a moment of pause, stifling a yawn behind the back of his hand. "It's not slacking off when there's nothing you're supposed to be doing."

"You could help us load what's left," Romario commented. Dino paused before pushing himself away from the wall to join the other man, and Romario smiled. "I was kidding, Boss. It's been a long day for all of us, and yours has been even longer than most."

"Don't worry, Romario," Dino said, "it's almost time for me to load Scuderia and Baracca. Father's probably waiting for us by now."

"... he is," Romario confirmed. He shifted uncomfortably, and Dino gave him a questioning look.

"What's wrong?"

"Your father isn't in a particularly good mood," Romario said. "Apparently, the score of one judge cost him the contest."

"What?" Dino said, mind blank with shock. Romario laughed, a bitter chuckle in the back on his throat.

"I think that my face looked about the same when I found out as yours does right now."

"And he's angry that he lost?" Dino questioned. "That doesn't sound like him at all. He's lost competitions before. He's not that arrogant."

Romario shook his head. "No, he's not arrogant enough to think he's guaranteed a gold medal ranking, even if he does have more reason to than most. And angry isn't the right word for it. He's... frustrated. But at the same time, I think he's happy."

"Alright then... why?"

"As you know, the wine was made with one of your mother's favourite techniques. He was trying to make a similar wine to the one they made the year they were married. It's only natural that he'd be sensitive about it. He scored favourably with all the usual judges, of course, despite the tasting being blind... but the guest's evaluation is what made him lose the gold. And the judge was not kind in her evaluation, either. From what I've heard, at least. Your father laughs me off when I try to talk about it, but I think it still stings a little."

Dino frowned at that. He knew that the wines his family created were good; their loyal fan base, excellent reviews and large amount of awards practically spoke for themselves. They were good enough to country-wide recognition, at the very least. But when it came down to it, everyone's taste was different. There was always a chance that you'd meet someone who didn't agree with your taste, and the Cavallone had gone for an admirable amount of time without encountering anyone who disagreed with their methods. The greatest concerns that came with a surprise loss were the financial ramifications.

"Did this year's vintage sell well today?"

"What you mean is, 'did this year's vintage sell well despite the loss', right?" Romario questioned, the corners of his lips twitching to show a brief smile.

"Of course," Dino responded, sounding far more serious about the situation than he felt. Scuderia shifted nervously next to him, and he reached out absently-mindedly run his hand along the horse's neck.

"Just as well as usual," Romario said with a shrug. Dino let out a sigh of relief, and Romario grinned.

"Happy about that?"

"Our fans are definitely creatures of habit," Dino replied. "Though that would probably make Father feel worse. He probably thinks the customers are pitying him."

"That's about the extent of it," Romario said, shrugging nonchalantly and shifting uncomfortably again. "If you don't mind, Boss, I'll take my leave here. These boxes are getting heavier the longer I hold onto them."

"Sorry, Romario," Dino said with a broad smile, and Romario snorted at him.

"If you looked as sorry as you sounded, Boss..."

"I am!" Dino insisted. Romario walked to the door of the stable and gave Dino an amused smirk from over his shoulder.

"You're still so easy to tease, _Young Maste_r."

Dino opened his mouth to respond, but Romario had already stepped through the stable door and out of his line of sight, his laughter echoing back over the sounds of the fair for just a moment before being drowned out. Dino sighed and ran a hand through his hair, before turning to Scuderia and Baracca.

"Come on, you two. I'm sure you like the idea of going home, too," he said, slipping into Scuderia's stall with a grin. "At least you can't tease me when I show concern for you, right?"

Scuderia stood obediently - or perhaps tiredly - while Dino untied the lead rope to his halter from his stall. Baracca was apparently too exhausted to protest the fact that someone other than Alessandro was handling him, and allowed Dino to untie his lead rope with little more than a shake of his head and an unimpressed flaring of his nostrils. Dino gave both horses a quick scratch and stifled another yawn. He would replace both horses' show halters with their normal ones when they returned home. He did, however, finally remove Scuderia's ribbon and pinned both it and Baracca's ribbon to the hem of his t-shirt. After doing a quick check to make sure he hadn't left anything behind, Dino opened the stall doors and led both horses towards the stable door.

Once they were out in the cool night air - a rather violent contrast to the stale, humid air of the stable - both horses seemed to perk up a bit. Baracca's began to move faster, and Dino firmly pulled back on his lead rope to prevent him from getting too far ahead. Baracca pulled back harder, and Dino lost his balance in his subsequent attempt to regain control of the animal. Scuderia jumped back in shock at the sudden movement, and that was enough to send Dino slipping into the mud and disturbed earth left by the crowds of people and animals that had crossed the soft grass.

Dino groaned, waited for a few seconds to give his head time to stop spinning, and slowly picked himself up off the ground. He hadn't sustained any serious injuries when he'd fallen, but it became clear when he stood up that his clothes, as well as the two ribbons, were almost unsalvageable.

"Damn it," Dino said, trying to keep the whining tone out of his voice. He brushed himself off as best he could, turned around and walked over to Scuderia to grab his lead rope. Baracca would be more difficult to recover; not only was he dark in colour and hard to see in the semi-light of dusk, but he had a habit of being far more flighty and temperamental than his brother. Dino squinted into the darkness, walking blindly for a few meters in every direction, feeling his heart crawl a little further into his throat with every passing minute that he didn't see Baracca. There were hoof prints everywhere in the mud, so he couldn't get a hint from that. He hadn't seen the direction Baracca had run. His father was a reasonable man, strict but fair in all of his judgements and dealings with mistakes. However, Dino was quite sure that if he'd lost the horse that doubled as the manor's best example of breeding stock and his father's favourite, he'd be in a lot more trouble than if he'd made a simple error when counting wine bottles or harvesting grapes. It didn't help that Baracca was black in colour, and that the area didn't have particularly good lighting.

It was only when he retraced his steps in a last, desperate effort that he got lucky; after staring into the dark for a few desperate seconds, he caught sight of a dark-coloured tail waving from the side of the barn. Holding Scuderia's lead rope tightly and moving slowly, Dino walked directly behind and past the horse to make sure it was Baracca; after catching the hint of gold and red on the animal's halter, his suspicions were confirmed. Dino walked down to stand at Baracca's right side, ensuring not to scare him by moving too rapidly. Baracca's ears twitched back, but he stayed still. Dino took another step forward, and Baracca jerked backwards. Dino felt a flash of panic shoot through his chest, closely followed by a uneasy sense of confusion. Baracca had certainly looked like he had _tried_ to flee, but something had held him back. Dino took a couple of cautious steps forward, and it was only then that he caught sight of the boy sitting down on the bench that ran along the side of the building.

The light was dim and Dino was tired, but he was sure of what he was seeing. The problem was that what he was seeing ranked somewhere between _unusual_ and _completely out of place_ in his mind. He was about Dino's age; mid to late teens, possibly early twenties if he was particularly short and slight. The boy was a foreigner, that much was clear; if his physical appearance hadn't identified him as Japanese, then the traditional-looking kimono he was wearing certainly would have. Despite that, his feet were clothed in thick shoes more suited to their muddy surroundings, a bizarre contrast between the formal and the very informal. He was wearing an expression that suggested that he was not at all happy to be where he was, and he looked even less enthusiastic every time Baracca tried to shy away from him. And perhaps the most unusual thing of all about this unusual person was the fact that he had a bright yellow bird perched on his head. Dino wasn't an expert on the subject, but he was quite sure that none of the native species looked anything like the bird on the boy's head.

For a single, fleeting second, Dino wondered if he really had hit his head when Baracca had run from him, and if the person sitting in front of him was nothing more than a particularly curious-looking hallucination. When Dino took another step forward, the little yellow bird on the boy's head perked up and began to sing a song Dino didn't even try to understand.

"_Midori tanabiku Namimori no..._"

The boy's eyes cut away from Baracca briefly, taking a few seconds to take Dino's presence in. His lip curled back in the slightest of scowls, and Dino felt suffocating awkwardness crash down around him when he realised he had been staring.

"Ah, sorry to bother you, but... that horse belongs to my father."

The boy said nothing, and Dino realised he was staring at the wet mud stains on his shirt and pants. Dino shifted awkwardly and tried to brush the mud off his shirt with his equally dirty hands, before realising it was a hopeless endeavour. The seconds slid by without the uncomfortable silence hanging between them ending, so Dino tried again.

"Thanks for catching him."

"I didn't catch him. He came here."

That was the first time the boy spoke. His voice was smooth, calm and confident enough to border on dangerous. His Italian was heavily accented, but correct. Dino, however, frowned at what he had said; Baracca wasn't exactly the most trusting of animals. Even he had trouble handling him, and there were times when his temper got so bad that Baracca even refused to calm down for his father. But the evidence was there in front of him, and there was no denying that Baracca was strangely calm despite the fact that he was being handled by a stranger. A moment later, the boy tossed Baracca's lead rope towards Dino in a haphazard gesture that almost sent Baracca bolting into the darkness for the second time that night. Dino was forced to drop Scuderia's rope to grab Baracca's, but he was relieved to see that Scuderia did nothing more than take a few cautious steps away from him. Once he had Baracca under control, he gave him a quick, reassuring pat and grabbed Scuderia's rope with his other hand, letting out a sigh of relief as he did so. The day had far too long and too exhausting for him to stand any more unwanted excitement. He turned back to the boy, who was still sitting against the side of the stable as if nothing had happened. The little yellow bird that had been sitting in his hair had flown into a nearby tree and was chirping shrilly in Baracca's direction.

"Well," Dino said awkwardly, "thank you for that."

He wasn't entirely sure what he was thanking the kid for, because he'd said he'd done nothing more than be in the right place at the right time by his own admission. Despite this, the boy responded to Dino's gratitude with a dispassionate shrug and went back to leaning against the stable wall in perfect silence. Dino raised his eyebrows, but decided that the best course of action was to simply walk away. He was tired, exhausted and filthy, and he didn't have the free time or patience to deal with some bratty kid, even if said bratty kid had technically done him a favour.

When he arrived back at the car park to meet with his father, he got a great deal of disapproving and confused looks for his lateness and the state of his clothes, but was asked nothing about what happened in the end; instead, all he got was a few moments of silence, and the assurance that dinner would be on the table when they got home and that they could go straight to bed once they were done. Perhaps his father was just exceptionally talented at reading his moods and knew he was too exhausted to argue, or perhaps it was the fact that his father was indeed too tired and disappointed to argue in the first place, but Dino was treated to a blissfully talk-free car ride back home after the busiest day of the year on his personal calendar. When Dino looked over at the other back seat to find his father dozing lightly against the window, he realised that all his previous assumption may have been incorrect, and that he was simply exhausted after the busy day.

As they were driving away from the fair, he cast one final look back through the rear window of the car. He could still see the lights of the fair from around the horses' trailer. He let his head fall back against the seat of the car and shut his eyes, feeling exhaustion creeping through his body almost instantaneously. Today hadn't been a perfect day for them, but at least it was behind them. With any luck, everything would be back to normal when the next day arrived.

Dino's final thought before he fell asleep was the vague hope that he hadn't somehow jinxed himself by wishing for normality.

**To be continued.**

The fic's title means "_in wine [there is the] truth_".

The town's name, Apocrifo, is the Italian translation of the word apocryphal. It has a few meanings, but the main one I'm referencing is the "of doubtful authenticity" definition. Simply put, it's a lame joke about it being a fictional town. The town is, however, located in Sicily, which is obviously a real place.

I listed a bunch of references that I used for this fic on my writing journal; if you are curious, go check out hysteric-blue on LJ.

If I made any really ridiculous mistakes with the descriptions of wine or anything, please let me know. :D;

And comments are always appreciated!


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer:** Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is the rightful property of Amano Akira. This is a fanwork written purely for both your entertainment and mine.

Here's Chapter Two! Thanks once again go to celen for proofreading for me. I also went back and fixed the first chapter's formatting. Sorry for the mix-up.

I would like to thank you all very much for the favourites and alerts I've received for this story. I would also like to thank DevilishBea, AlbireoCygnus18, beatrice-waterworks, SkylarkLove and ilovesmilingfools for taking the time to review the first chapter. Thanks very much! I hope everyone likes this chapter too.

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

Dino awoke slowly, despite the rough shaking he could feel against his shoulder. He gradually let the heaviness sleep leave his body, and groaned internally when he felt the even heavier sensation of exhaustion flood back into his limbs. He cracked one eye open to see Romario grinning at him in a way that suggested he was very amused by the fact that he'd fallen asleep on the car ride home from the fair, like he used to do when he was a little kid. Dino rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes, stretched as much as he could within the cramped confines of the car, and then slid out of his seat and shut the door behind himself, trying to ignore the way Romario and his father were apprehensively eyeing the dirty scuffs his muddy clothing had left on the car's leather interior.

Dino didn't feel coherent enough to apologise properly, so he gave his father a sheepish look that immediately made the older man look about ten times more relaxed than he'd looked since the start of the day.

"Are you okay, Dino?"

"Just tired," Dino replied with a shrug that was intended to de-cramp his shoulder more than it was intended to show indifference to how tired he felt. "I'll put Baracca and Scuderia into the stables for the night and then join you for dinner."

Alessandro eyed the large smears of mud and grass on Dino's clothes, and shook his head. "I have a better idea. You go and get cleaned up, and I'll take them back and tend to them."

"I can do it if you want, Father."

"Feeling well-rested after the nap in the car?" Alessandro questioned, and Dino willed himself not to show his embarrassment. After a few more seconds of silence, Alessandro sighed and walked over to pat Dino on the shoulder.

"Don't push yourself. You're tired and you're covered in dry mud. The sooner you get cleaned up for dinner, the sooner we can all finish up for today. And although you usually care for the horses, I'm sure no one will blame you for leaving it to someone else this one time."

For a moment Dino felt like he wanted to say no, like he wanted to do it himself anyway, but he resisted the urge to argue the point. "Alright."

He only realised how tired he really was after the word left his lips.

Alessandro smiled, apparently relieved by Dino's agreeable attitude. "I'll see you at dinner. Twenty minutes should be enough for you to get cleaned up, right?"

"Yeah, that's plenty."

Alessandro nodded in response, and walked to the back of the car to let Scuderia and Baracca out of their trailer with Romario. Dino entered the house through the side door after finding that it had been left unlocked for them, unpinning the mud-soaked ribbons from the hem of his shirt and placing them onto the small table by the door on his way through. Something in the back of his mind kept telling him that he should be more annoyed about his father's apparent lack of trust in him, but he was too tired to pay attention to it. Even when he did, he felt like an ungrateful brat. He could go back to wondering about why his father acted the way he did when he was clean, fed, and felt more rational. He toed his muddy shoes off, left them by the door, and walked down the small side corridor to the stairs that led to the more private areas of the house.

Dino couldn't recall a single other day in the year when the three storey climb up to his room had been more daunting. It wasn't really a matter of complete exhaustion so much as it was a minor annoyance after a day that could have gone much better for the entire family and its staff. He made it to the second floor landing before he noticed that he had, apparently, been leaving a trail of flaking, dried mud and dead blades of grass as he walked through the house and taking off his shoes had been for naught; he didn't really want to be around when the maids found the mess. When he reached his bedroom, he found that the door was half-open, and whoever had been inside had left the lamp on his desk on after leaving the room. Dino nudged the door open with his foot and found everything as he'd left it - aside from the neatly-folded pile of shirts on the end of his bed - and let out a soft sigh that was half relief and half exasperation at whoever had come into his room to drop off his clothes. He began digging through his drawers for clean clothes. The large cage on top of the chest of drawers wobbled ominously, and Dino absent-mindedly held up one hand against the wire of the cage to steady it. He was immediately rewarded with a rather sharp nip to the tip of his finger, and he pulled his hand away so quickly that he lost his balance and fell back onto his bed, sending the pile of clothes on the end of it flying onto the floor.

"Enzo," Dino said with a sigh, "don't scare me like that."

The small tortoise stared at his owner in a way that Dino decided was positively accusing. He got up, grabbed one of the clean shirts from the pile that had fallen off his bed and grabbed the pants he'd been extracting from his drawer before Enzo had nipped him, and turned the lamp on his desk off. The dim light of the heat lamp on Enzo's cage was enough to guide him back to the door, and he grinned at Enzo as he opened it.

"I'll bring you something to eat when I come back, okay? Sorry it's so late. And sorry that the maid left the light on. You must be sleepy."

Enzo blinked and began to walk to the other end of his cage. Dino closed his bedroom door securely behind him and headed for the bathroom down the hall. He was the only person who ever used it due to his father and Romario having their own private ensuites, and the maids made sure that it always remained spotless and ready for his use. Everything was as immaculate as he was accustomed to; spotless tiles, freshly laundered towels, new bars of soap and bottles of shampoo. The only new thing was the the pot pourri, sitting in a white porcelain dish on the edge of the bathroom cabinet; it smelled more overpowering than he remembered, so he could only assume that someone had gone to the trouble of replacing it sometime after he'd left that morning. It was relieving, Dino thought with a small smile, to come home to something so simple yet comforting in its familiarity after a day that could have gone much better.

After removing his filthy clothes, Dino stepped into the shower and twisted the taps until the water was hot enough to almost scald his skin. He didn't mind this at all; although it had been a humid day, a hot shower always refreshed him, and the heat of the water made him feel clean even after the dirtiest of tasks. This day, he was relieved to find, was no exception to this rule. When Dino began the task of scrubbing all of the dried mud off his skin, he gradually felt his weariness and exhaustion get washed away with it. For a moment, he felt relieved, until his mind refocused on the events of the day, and he found himself unwillingly thinking about his father's attitude.

Their poor result at the whine contest didn't bother Dino as much as he thought it would. There were hundreds of tiny, seemingly insignificant factors that could influence the outcome of that, even when you didn't factor the personal tastes of the judges into equation. At the moment, his main concern was his father's apparent lack of faith in him. Although he'd been trained to take over the winery from a young age - so young that many of the more difficult tasks were second nature to him now - his father seemed intent on keeping every creative aspect of the business under his control. Dino had been given the task of looking after some of their secondary and tertiary interests and means of income, such as the horses and most of the general yard work, but his father still insisted on handling the viniculture alone. He'd been fine with this arrangement at first, because he'd always liked interacting with their staff and getting his hands dirty more than he'd ever enjoyed the more professional, refined parts of running the winery, even if he had shown a particular flair for managing the accounts. But as time had passed and both he and his father had grown older, Dino had noticed that his father seemed almost reluctant to give him any control or knowledge related to the wine.

Dino knew his relationship with his father was made needlessly complicated because of their family's business; he had to rely on the teachings and guidance of a man who would never be prepared to hand the business onto someone else for as long as he was alive, a fact made worse by the fact that Dino only showed any interest at all because he knew that it was expected of him. But Dino's loyalty would always be to his family and its workers first, and he wanted to be known as a credit to his father and his name rather than a disappointment.

With a soft sigh and a small grin of resignation, Dino stood directly beneath the spray of the water, his grin becoming more genuine as he felt the last of the heat and dirt of the day wash away from his skin. He knew he would always feel like an amateur next to his father, but he was also confident in his own skill. If his father didn't have faith in him, he would have to dedicate himself to improving his skills. If it was more to do with a possessive streak he felt for the business, Dino could hardly blame him, but he would show that he was a capable heir. It was all a matter of perseverance and skill, and he was determined to impress.

The water was starting to become too cold for Dino to tolerate, so he twisted the taps until the shower was off and stepped out, grabbing one of the neatly folded towels from the bathroom bench on his way. He stole a glance at himself in the mirror on the way past; he'd managed to get rid of all the dry mud, and he felt about a thousand times better now that he was clean. He towelled himself dry, pulled on his fresh clothes, and gathered up his damp towel and dirty clothes in his arms. He could get rid of them on his way down to dinner.

Speaking of dinner, he was probably already late.

He dropped his dirty clothes and towel in the laundry chute on his way downstairs, wincing as he heard them hit the laundry hamper at the bottom of the chute with a wet-sounding thud. The dining room was on the ground floor, near the main entrance of the house. Although it was designed to hold many more people than just Dino, his father and Romario, it was a rare occurrence for anyone else to join them. Most of the other workers had their own homes in town, and guests were extremely rare. And so, for as long as Dino could remember, it had always been his father sitting at the head of the table with Romario to his right, sitting in the seat next to the one on Alessandro's right side, and Dino himself directly to his left at dinner time. He had often wondered why this was, but neither his father nor Romario had ever offered to explain the lack of company, and so Dino didn't ask.

Alessandro and Romario were already waiting for him when he entered the room. He smiled as a way of apology for making them wait, and sat down in his usual seat on his father's left. Whoever had prepared their meals and brought them out had already been and left, if the silver cloches and trays in front of all their usual seats were any indication. Once Dino had taken his seat and made himself comfortable, he turned to his father with a slight cough, intent on giving both him and Romario a proper apology for being late.

"Sorry about that."

"No big deal, Boss," Romario replied with a small smile. "I'm surprised you're here already, considering the amount of mud you managed to cover yourself in."

Alessandro sighed at both of them and picked up his knife and fork, effectively interrupting whatever response Dino was preparing to Romario's teasing.

"Let's east so we can all go to bed and leave this day behind us."

Dino nodded stiffly and sat down in his usual seat. He lifted the cloche away from his own tray to reveal a margherita pizza that was easily big enough to feed everyone at the table. With a mental 'thank you' to their cook and a quick glance at his father to make sure he'd already started eating, Dino picked up the largest slice and began to eat.

"Seems like everyone got their favourite tonight," Alessandro said, with the contented air of someone who had already known precisely what was going to happen in advance. Dino wasn't particularly surprised; his father had a habit of always knowing exactly what they were craving at the end of a long day, and he always passed this knowledge on and made sure that their cravings were fulfilled. Dino fed a particularly stringy piece of cheese into his mouth with his spare hand, and glanced at both his father and Romario. Alessandro was twirling strands of pasta around his fork with an unnecessary amount of concentration, and Romario was sipping coffee and reading the copy of the local newspaper that had been put on his tray.

Dino finished off his first slice of pizza and reached for his second with an uncertain glance at his father, who was now drinking wine from his glass. He cleared his throat lightly, but that didn't seem to be enough to get the attention of either one of the older men. When it became clear that he'd been ignored, he swallowed the mouthful of pizza he'd been chewing on, wiped his hands clean on his napkin and leaned against the edge of the table with his eyes focused on Alessandro.

"Father."

"Hmm?" Alessandro said around a mouthful of pasta. He quickly shielded his mouth from view with his free hand, and wiped the corners of his lips with his own napkin once he'd swallowed his food. "What's wrong?"

"I wanted to speak about today."

"There's not much to say," Alessandro replied with a casual shrug, and he turned back to his food. Dino frowned in response.

"About the wine contest..."

"Gone. Done. In the past," Alessandro said shortly. "You have no reason to worry. Sales were still good, and I'm not nearly as distressed about the loss as some people would want you to believe. It's fine, Dino."

Romario took a very long, very slow sip of his coffee from behind his newspaper. Dino felt the corners of his lips twitch, but he managed to regain his composure before he spoke again.

"I just wanted to ask about the guest judge, actually."

"Mitsuru Hibari?" Alessandro questioned, sounding a little too nonchalant to be genuine. "What about her?"

"Ah," Dino said stupidly, effectively cutting himself off. He'd been trying to find a way to find out more about the woman who'd defeated his father and the sort of skill and background he had, but he couldn't think of anything that would start his father off on the topic. And then, quite suddenly, he remembered the dark-haired boy that had caught Baracca after he'd bolted. Well, even if the kid himself had been a bit of a brat, he would still serve as a worthy conversation starter.

"Actually, I think I might have met one of her relatives. Do you know anything about her family?"

"Not really," Alessandro responded in a tone that suggested he was already growing tired of the current topic. "I know nothing about the Hibari woman aside from the facts that she's impossibly hard to impress and she has appalling taste in wines."

"So... you didn't learn anything from the loss, Sir?" Romario questioned. Dino suspected that if Romario had been anyone else in the world - himself included - Alessandro would have leapt across the table and assaulted him with his fork. And sure enough, there was a sudden and threatening sort of tension in his father's frame that Dino rarely saw, but he blinked and it was gone, replaced by a serious sort of calm.

"Actually, I learned one interesting fact today. From Savino, no less."

"That old fool?" Romario questioned from over the top of his paper. "I wouldn't put stock in anything he says."

"Usually I wouldn't, but this knowledge technically came from his wife, and you know what she's like."

Dino grinned. "She knows everything that happens in town five minutes after it happens."

"Precisely," Alessandro said, returning his son's smile. "She said that the former Silvestri Estate was bought a few weeks ago."

"Really?" Dino asked, surprise evident in his voice. "I mean... I can't say I'm that surprised, because it's always been kept in a better condition than the old Morelli house, but still..."

"I'd seen a bit of activity around the place, now that you mention it," Romario said, finally putting his newspaper down on the table. "It didn't look like much more than the usual potential buyers, though. I didn't think anything of it."

Alessandro shrugged. "No way you could have known anything otherwise. Either way, it means changes in the area, whether they're planning to use the land as a vineyard or for something else."

"How do you feel about it, Father?" Dino asked.

"If it's not a vineyard? I don't know. It's possible that they'll set something up to threaten our secondary businesses, but I'm not too concerned."

"And if it is another winery, Sir?" Romario asked.

Alessandro smirked, jammed his fork into the last of his pasta and twisted it. "I think that they'll have their work cut out for them if they plan on challenging us."

Dino watched as his father promptly shovelled the last of his pasta into his mouth and stood up.

"Get a good rest, you two. Dino, we'll be gone until tomorrow night on some business out of town, but when I get back I want to talk to you."

Dino was surprised, but he quickly nodded. "Okay."

Alessandro smiled briefly, and reached over to ruffle Dino's hair. "Good. I'll see you at dinner tomorrow."

Once Alessandro had left the room, Dino quickly fed himself another two slices of pizza and then covered what remained of his food with the silver cloche it had been served with. He then said a quick goodnight to Romario and went into the kitchen to grab some food for Enzo, who Dino figured would be grumpy at being kept waiting for so long. There, at the bottom of one of the refrigerators, were several large bags of leaves and stems from the vines in their vineyard that Dino had picked before their plants had been treated for pests. Grabbing a bag that was open and near empty, Dino quickly rinsed the leaves under the kitchen tap and tucked them back into the bag they'd come from. He then took the long way back to the stairs that led up to his room, instead of going back through the dining room and disturbing Romario.

When Dino reached his bedroom, he tried to navigate without turning on the light, opting to try and reach his desk and lamp using only the dim heat light in Enzo's cage as a guide. Unfortunately, he wasn't as lucky this time, and he inelegantly tripped over the pile of clothes he'd left on his floor earlier in the evening. Enzo stirred, blinking tiredly and staring out of the side of his cage at Dino, who groaned and picked himself up off the carpet, blindly groping at his own limbs and face to check that he hadn't injured himself.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Enzo," Dino whispered, opening the top of the tortoise's cage and dropping in the handful of leaves from the bag he'd been holding. Enzo began devouring the leaves immediately, all ill will towards his owner forgotten. Dino smiled a tired smile, pulled his shirt and pants off and kicked them into a corner with little regard. As he went over to draw the curtains above his bedroom windows shut, he glanced across the empty, dilapidated lot next to his family's land, and to the large, dark house in the distance. The house still looked deserted to the untrained eye, but Dino could see the little differences in the old home and the little signs of life that made him sure that his father's words were true. A dark-coloured car, barely visible in the pale light of the moon, was parked at the side of the house. And even from the large distance Dino was observing from, he could clearly see dim sources of light coming from one or two of the house's windows.

Dino stifled a yawn and ran his free hand through his hair before closing the curtains entirely. There would be plenty of time to worry about the ramifications of the new arrivals in the morning. Now, the only thing he could bother with thinking about was reaching his bed before he fell asleep standing half-naked in front of his window.

The last thing Dino remembered was reaching the bed. There was no way he could be completely certain, but he was quite sure that he was asleep before his head touched his pillow.

* * *

><p>Two early starts on successive days was rarely good for anyone's mood, and Alessandro knew that it went double for both himself and his confidante at that very moment. After waking up to the shrill sound of his alarm clock and the birds singing their dawn chorus, he'd tidied himself up to a level that was acceptable for the day's work, he'd gone downstairs to brew the coffee pot. Alessandro had managed to refrain from drinking the entire pot himself, though partial credit had to go to Romario for arriving in the kitchen while his boss was halfway through his third cup of coffee. There was nothing elegant or refined about the way he'd brewed it; it was merely meant to get him to wake up enough to resemble a functioning human being, and his body seemed to appreciate it. After drinking another two cups, his brain seemed positively enthusiastic about a whole day dedicated to discussing the pros and cons of international distribution of their products.<p>

By the time they were ready to leave, it was around seven in the morning. Rubbing the last of the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hand, Alessandro waited for Romario to bring the car around and stared across the newly-occupied house across from the empty lot. There were a lot of subtle differences in the house now that he actually stopped to look at it. It wasn't quite as overgrown as it was a few weeks beforehand, and there was signs that some painting and other refurbishing would be happening within the next few days.

Frowning, Alessandro squinted and strained his eyes to see if there was any signs of life in the old house's orchards and vineyards, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. The corners of his lips twitched upwards; if they were planning on agriculture or viniculture being their main source of income, as so many families in the area did, they were cutting it quite fine. The start of the growth cycle for grapevines was drawing to a close, and their own plants had already gone through the bleeding process.

Alessandro was so engrossed with staring at the other property that he didn't see Romario bringing the car to the front of the house. The sound of the car pulling up might not have been enough to distract Alessandro, but Romario blasting the car's horn was. After recovering his composure, checking his watch and recovering from the subsequent shock at how late they were running, Alessandro practically threw himself into the back seat of the car. He slammed the car door shut so roughly that the entire shook for a moment.

"Nice of you to join me, Sir."

"I've probably made us late," Alessandro said dispassionately. "And what an excellent day for it."

"There's more than enough time for us to make it to the meeting. Incidentally, I brought the briefcase you left in the kitchen and put it in the trunk."

"... thank you," Alessandro said, sighing deeply and leaning his head against the cool glass of the car window. The cold of the window shot through his forehead and to the base of his neck like a sudden electric shock that left his head spinning, but he did not pull away.

"If you don't mind me saying, Sir, you seem distracted this morning," Romario commented, tone casual but eyes sharp in the reflection of the car's rear view mirror.

"Perhaps. There's a lot on my mind."

"Such as?"

Alessandro winced at the rough sound of the gravel in their driveway being crushed beneath the car's wheels. "Mainly the ramifications of the contest loss on today's deal. Local market is one thing, international is another. There's also the new family that's moved in a few houses down, and what they might do to go into direct competition with us."

Alessandro paused and glanced at Romario. The other man nodded once to show that he was listening, and Alessandro took a deep breath.

"I've also got the feeling lately that Dino's unhappy with me."

"Oh?"

"He's been more rebellious lately. Not by much, but enough for me to notice it."

"People usually are at his age, Sir. They reach adulthood and expect to be treated differently than they were when they were kids, but they never quite understand that they never change in the eyes of their parents."

"I suppose not," Alessandro replied, mulling Romario's answer over in his mind. "Do you think he feels like he's under too much pressure?"

"I don't think he feels that he's under enough."

"What do you mean?"

"Sir, I've been with the family since just before you got control of the vineyard and the business. If there's one similarity that comes through for me between the way you were then and the way your son is now, it's the thirst to prove yourself."

"I see."

Romario quickly glanced over his shoulder, and frowned at the troubled look on Alessandro's face. "Can I make a suggestion?"

"Of course. I trust your judgement."

"I know that you love the company and feel protective of it, but try to give Dino more chances to prove himself and learn. If you don't help him, the family's going to get driven into the ground anyway. And I don't think he's about to steal the company from beneath you. Give him a chance, Sir. He's a good kid."

"... I know," Alessandro replied, smiling briefly. Romario grinned and pulled the car onto the street.

It was so early in the morning that Alessandro wasn't expecting anyone aside from the odd farmhand or fruit picker to be out and about, and so he didn't really see the need to pay attention to anything outside of the car. Romario seemed to have come to the conclusion that he wasn't interested in talking - a good decision, Alessandro decided as the throbbing in the back of his skull became a constant, dull ache - and had put the car's radio on at a low volume so he could listen to the morning news. Alessandro stifled a yawn, and was about to take Dino's example from the previous day and catch up on some sleep during the car ride when a sudden movement in the distance caught his attention. Immediately sitting up in his seat, he shielded his eyes from the early morning sun with his hand and once again squinted at their new neighbour's home.

"Romario, I think that the new neighbours are out and about."

"I can see someone moving around over in the distance," Romario affirmed, taking one hand off the wheel to push his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, as if hoping that it would improve his eyesight enough to see that far. "Can't tell who they are, though."

As the car drew closer to the other house, Alessandro frowned. He could only see one person clearly, a young man with a ridiculously exaggerated pompadour hairstyle who was standing next to a small truck full of cardboard boxes. He turned to someone that Alessandro couldn't see and bowed deeply before picking up a box from the back of the truck and heading towards the house. The person he'd bowed to, another young man with dark, messy hair and an expression that was so uncaring that it bordered on arrogant, was standing to the side of the driveway, watching as various men and women filed out of the house, retrieved boxes from the back of the truck and headed back the way they came from.

"Don't look like locals to me," Romario commented.

"No, they don't," Alessandro murmured, frowning deeply. "This gives me a bad feeling..."

Before Romario could reply, the two men were distracted by the appearance of another person from the old house. The distance between them and the house was now so close that Alessandro no longer needed to strain his eyes to see his new neighbours, and what he saw caused an odd mixture of shock and rage to settle itself in the back of his throat, as if he'd just swallowed something that was simultaneously hot enough to burn and cold enough to the touch to make you shiver.

Short stature, long brown hair that fell to the middle of her back, dark eyes with a streak of pride and coldness.

Alessandro's jaw tensed so sharply that his teeth grit against each other with a sharp squeaking noise.

"Damn it._ Damn it._"

"Sir?" Romario questioned, sounding unsure at his boss's sudden change in attitude.

"I know who that is," Alessandro said, calming himself down somewhat from his initial, furious reaction. "It's the guest judge from the wine contest yesterday."

"What?" Romario asked sharply. "What's she doing here?"

"It seems she's moving in," Alessandro commented lightly, though his body language suggested that he wasn't taking it nearly as well as his tone made him sound. "This could be a problem."

Romario sighed. "We don't know what their intentions are. For now, the best thing to do would to be to focus on today's meeting, and worry about any moves they make when they make them. We still don't know if they're even planning to go into competition with us."

"True. From the little I know about them, their family is part of the winemaking business too. But for now? We'll wait," Alessandro said. "And we'll watch them carefully."

Romario looked as if he was going to voice an objection, apparently concerned by Alessandro's attitude, but he nodded slowly and turned his focus back to the deserted road in front of him.

"As you wish, Sir."

* * *

><p>Dino woke up from his blissfully restful night of sleep sometime during the mid-morning. Although he hesitated to leave his bed at all thanks to the dull ache of his legs and arms from the day before, but he knew it would be best to get up and make sure that everything was running smoothly without his father and Romario keeping watch. If he wanted a chance to prove to his father that he could manage things, this was definitely a good chance. He got dressed in the clothes he'd worn to dinner the night before, said good morning to a sleepy-looking Enzo and headed downstairs to make himself a strong pot of coffee, and grab something small to eat to keep him going until his father and Romario got home.<p>

After hurrying himself through breakfast with enthusiasm that, upon reflection, he found rather childish, Dino realised two rather obvious things.

The first was that his father had given most of the staff the day off, partially due to his absence and partially due to the fact that there wasn't nearly as much work to do after the fair as before it. The second thing he realised was that the few people who had stayed on for the day had already started on their usual jobs. He wasn't really surprised when he actually thought about it logically, but he was still slightly disappointed. Still, a day off after the busy few days leading up to the fair was probably a good thing, so he wasn't about to complain. It was good to rest up after a busy few weeks.

He decided the best thing to do was to try and kill two birds with one stone, and do something constructive as well as relaxing. He headed outside to the horses' stable, noting that the weather was practically perfect for riding. Scuderia was standing with his nose poking over the door of his stall, looking far more energetic than he had the day before. Baracca was tearing chunks of hay out of the food rack on the wall of his own stall, and nervously twitched an ear back when the stable door creaked as Dino entered.

"Hey there, Scuderia," Dino said, reaching out to give the horse a pat. "Ready to go for a ride? Just give me a moment to deal with Baracca."

Dino put Baracca's halter and lead rope on with surprisingly little difficulty, and led him out into the paddock closest to the house so he could graze and run around. Even if he didn't feel comfortable with riding his father's horse, there was no point in keeping him cramped up in his stall all day. Baracca tossed his head and trotted away as soon as Dino had put him in the paddock and freed him. Dino waited for a moment to make sure that he settled into the new environment, and then left Baracca to his own devices and returned to Scuderia. The smaller horse seemed excited by the prospect of being let out of his stall; watching Baracca had probably worked him up a little, and Dino couldn't help but be infected by his enthusiasm. As soon as he'd finished tacking up, he climbed onto Scuderia's back and clicked his tongue, and Scuderia jerked forward with so much enthusiasm that Dino would have ended up on the floor were it not for his tight grip on the reins.

"Hey, settle down," Dino said, barely able to hide the amusement in his voice. He ran his palm along Scuderia's neck and held him steady, and Scuderia snorted sharply and flicked his tail before calming down. Once Dino was sure Scuderia was settled, he clicked his tongue again and Scuderia briskly trotted out of the stable and into the spring air. Dino couldn't help but smile; this was one of his favourite parts of living at the vineyard; the sweetness of the air peppered with the scents of the freshly bloomed orange tree blossoms, the warmth of the sun on the back of his neck, Scuderia's rough gait as he headed towards the collapsed part of the border fence that they crossed to get to the empty lot next door. Once they were over the fence and onto smoother ground, Dino gently squeezed his heels against Scuderia's flanks, and the horse immediately accelerated to a canter.

The abandoned property was the same as always. The grass was overgrown, but not unbearably so; someone must have spent the time or money to come and mow it down so it didn't become too unsightly. The house's condition wasn't actually too bad, aside from the obvious effects of the weather and lack of life, such as the layers of dust on the windows and the peeling paint. The gnarled remains of what had been the orchard were still growing to the south of the house. Some of the trees were still blossoming, but most of them were obviously dead or dying, sitting amongst the long grass, long forgotten. The shed and stable that stood a small distance away from the house had almost collapsed, and the broken wire and wooden skeletal remains of the old poultry coop looked like something out of a nightmare. As they drew closer to the remains of the other farm, Dino slowed Scuderia to a trot and watched the ground for any loose debris that would injure the horse, and sighed. If the former owners could see what their son had done to this place, they'd be in a state of panic.

Dino gently guided Scuderia to a stop and gave him a pat on the shoulder. Scuderia seemed to take the chance to rest with gratitude, and leaned to tear a chunk of mouthful of the overgrown grass from the ground. Dino carefully dismounted, but held Scuderia's reins tightly in his hand to stop him from running off. The grass was long enough to brush against his calves, and he slowly wandered through the field, enjoying the sunlight and the breeze while watching Scuderia munching away on the grass. If it had been safer, Dino noted vaguely as he reached out to pluck a blade of grass from the field and place it between his teeth, it would have been perfect to simply lie down in this grass and relax.

He found himself wandering farther and farther away from home as time passed. It was especially easy to keep walking once Scuderia had eaten his fill and was more eager to keep moving. He glanced over at the new occupied house on the opposite side of the lot to his own home. There didn't seem to be much happening outside of the home today, though that stood to reason; if they'd just moved in, it would make sense to settle in before starting on their farm... if that was their plan in the first place. Vaguely, Dino wondered if his father was more worried than he was letting on over the possibility of competition in the area.

Dino was stirred from his thoughts as Scuderia nudged him in the back with his nose. He idly turned around and ran the tips of his fingers along Scuderia's neck, but something else had distracted him. He could hear a high-pitched noise coming from behind him, something oddly melodious and strangely familiar. It was only after he concentrated and moved closer to the source of the sound that he realised what it was.

_"Asa tsuyu kagayaku namimori no, heihei bonbon nami de ii..."_

Recognition hit Dino, and he spun around on the spot clumsily, looking for the source of the sound until he became so dizzy that he fell into the grass, his head spinning. Scuderia took a few steps back as Dino tripped, but didn't try to run. Dino groaned and rubbed the back of his head. He hadn't hit anything hard and certainly wasn't bleeding, but the blunt impact of his head hitting the ground was enough to make stars flash in front of his eyes. He blinked rapidly until his vision righted itself, at which point he found himself staring up at the dark-haired boy who had restrained Baracca at the fair the day before. Dino stared blankly upwards, and was met with an equally blank stare.

"Ah," Dino said unintelligently, suddenly realising that he's bitten down on the blade of grass he'd had in his mouth when he tripped. "Excuse me."

Dino turned around discreetly and began picking little slivers of grass out of his mouth. He was distracted, however, by the dismissive snort of the dark-haired boy. Then again, he supposed that he probably looked ridiculous, so he didn't know if he should really hold it against him.

"Herbivore."

"Eh?" Dino questioned, picking a strand of grass from between his teeth. The boy's lips curled into a rather sadistic smirk.

"You're herbivorous."

"... alright?" Dino said, chuckling slightly as he rid his mouth of the remainder of the grass. "I usually don't go around with my mouth full of grass like this, you know."

"That's irrelevant. It's obvious that you're weak."

Dino looked at the boy, wondering what the heck he was even talking about and how he was supposed to judge the strength of someone he'd barely met. The tiny yellow bird in the boy's hair chirped and tugged at a few stray strands of black hair as they moved in the breeze.

"You were at the fair."

"Ah, so you remember," Dino said with a smile. "Sorry I didn't introduce myself yesterday. I'm Dino. My father owns the Cavallone Vineyard."

He waved one hand back over his shoulder and towards his home for emphasis. The boy went from looking blank to looking bored.

"That proves that you're a herbivore."

"Eh?" Dino said. "Why do you keep talking about herbivores?"

"It's further proof that you're weak," the boy stated, as if it was the simplest concept in the world. "If my mother was unimpressed, it's obvious you're not worthy of my time."

"You mother...?" Dino asked, before something in his mind clicked and he realised who this boy must be. "Are you the son of the guest judge from the wine contest?"

The boy said nothing, but Dino took his silence as confirmation. It certainly made sense; Mitsuru and this boy were both clearly of Japanese origin, they were both at the fair, and the boy knew of their family. Dino wondered if he should start being more defensive over the insult he'd just had directed at his family. The other boy - Something Hibari - certainly wasn't going out of his way to be friendly. He should have expected it, after the bratty attitude he'd received the day before at the fair.

Dino decided it was best to attempt friendliness, regardless of how difficult Hibari was acting.

"I'm sorry if my father did anything to upset your mother. He tends to be a bit of a perfectionist, you see... and he can get defensive very easily. I've only heard the story from our perspective, so... I apologise on his behalf."

For the briefest of moments, Hibari looked surprised. Dino blinked and the surprise on the other boy's face was gone, replaced by what he assumed was his usual, 'between blank and bored' expression. It was strange, Dino thought, to see someone react to an apology with shock.

"So, ah... what brings you to Italy?" Dino asked, trying to keep the conversation from dying an even more tragic death than it already was. He wasn't sure he could call it a conversation when it was so one-sided, but at least Hibari seemed to be listening to him.

As if on cue, Hibari stifled a yawn with his palm, turned on his heel and walked back towards the house on the other side of the vacant lot.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Dino questioned, walking briskly to catch up to Hibari. Scuderia tossed his head irritably at the sudden movement.

"You bore me," Hibari replied. "I'm leaving."

"What?" Dino asked, wondering if he had heard Hibari correctly.

"There's no point in wasting my time by conversing with weaklings."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Dino said, unable to keep the edge of sarcasm out of his voice.

That was enough to make Hibari walk so fast that Dino had to break into a jog.

"Alright, I'm sorry about what I said then! At least tell me your name so I can apologise properly!" Dino said, rapidly running out of breath. He realised he hadn't had anything to drink all day, and it was beginning to take its toll on him.

Hibari glanced back over his shoulder as he effortlessly jumped the wooden fence that separated his home from the vacant lot. His bird had been prepared for the movement, apparently, and had resorted to fluttering just above his head.

"Stop following me, herbivore."

And with that, Hibari headed back up to his house with his pet bird, leaving a sheepish Dino and a grumpy Scuderia standing alone in the field.

* * *

><p>Dino returned home from the empty neighbouring field soon after the Hibari kid had left him alone; he found nothing more to do around the vineyard to help out than he had when he had left, and so he'd removed Scuderia's tack and put him out in the paddock with Baracca. He walked through the vineyard to check for vines that were showing signs of diseases or weakness, but couldn't really find any problems aside from a few dead shoots and leaves. In the mid-afternoon, he went to his room and got Enzo out of his enclosure, and then took him down to the side of the house so he could wander around and graze on the grass. When it got colder, he took Enzo back upstairs and threw himself stomach-down onto his bed to wait for his father and Romario to arrive home. With very little to do and not much more to think about, Dino found his mind drifting to the most exciting happening of the day... if you could call meeting such a brat exciting by any stretch of the imagination.<p>

Still, he couldn't help but feel curious. It had been a long time since another vineyard had started operating in such close proximity, and it was probably one of the first times he'd been curious about anyone else in the town for a long time. New residents weren't exactly common in their area, so there was something about the Hibaris that piqued his interest. He chuckled a bit at this thought; well, at least he knew it wasn't the charming personality of Mitsuru Hibari's son that made him want to get to know them better. The question of whether he'd even get to know them once his father found out who their new neighbours were was still up in the air.

Dino had only been resting for about a quarter of an hour when he heard the tell-tale sound of his father's car driving down the side of the house and to the garage. He quickly went to his bathroom to freshen himself up for dinner; he scrubbed the dirt from under his nails and washed his face, and then headed down to the dining room. He doubted that his father and Romario would want to be kept waiting after such a long day.

Sure enough, when he entered the room, he found his father and Romario already sitting in their usual places, heaping large helpings of food onto their plates. Romario was so exhausted that Dino could see his hand shaking as he raised his fork to his mouth, but his father looked like he was about ready to pass out on his dinner plate.

"Dino," Alessandro said with a tired smile. "How was your day?"

"Good," Dino said, mentally searching for the right word to describe his uneventful day without sounding like he was ungrateful for the time off. "It was relaxing. I took Scuderia for a ride."

"That's good," Alessandro replied. "At least one of us had a relaxing day."

"I take it that the meeting didn't go well?"

"Oh no, it went well. Our wine is going to be distributed in a few different states in America," Alessandro said with a tired smile. "The amount of bargaining and arguing it took to get to that point is what took the energy out of me."

"That's good," Dino said, unable to hide the relief in his voice. It would have been bad if their efforts had been for nothing, especially for his father's disposition. Alessandro took a sip of wine from his glass and watched as Dino served himself dinner, before making an effort to look as disinterested as possible.

"I saw our new neighbours this morning."

"Oh, so you know it's the guest judge from the contest, then?" Dino said, and Alessandro nodded. "I met her son today, while I was out with Scuderia."

"Is that so?" Alessandro said, frowning as if he was deep in thought. "How old would you say he was?"

"About my age, give or take a few years? That's just a guess."

"Interesting. Anything else?"

"Not really. He wasn't much of a talker," Dino replied. "He was a bit of a brat, really."

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree with that family."

Romario glanced at his boss and shook his head before turning his attention back to his food.

"If she has a son, she might be training him to take over the business once she retires."

"Not every vineyard is a family business like ours..." Dino started, but Alessandro cut him off with a shake of his head.

"It would make sense. They said at the fair that their family had a history in viniculture. If that's the case, you might have some competition when the time comes for you to take over the business, Dino."

"I'm sure that day's years away, Father," Dino replied, unsure whether it was right to answer at all. Any answer he gave could imply that he wasn't happy with the way things were, and while it wasn't all true, he desperately wanted a chance to prove himself. Thankfully, all Alessandro did was chuckle.

"I thought that for a long time, years and years ago. But everything in life is a mystery, really. And if anything were to happen, I would want you to be prepared to take my place."

"I'm going to keep learning. I won't stop until I can handle the entire vineyard as well as you can."

"I think that you've learned enough about the basics to move onto something with a little more responsibility," Alessandro replied, steepling his fingers in front of his face. "And that's why I'd like you to help me with the creation of the next wine."

Dino sat in silence, barely even daring to breathe in case it caused his father to have another change of heart. He was sure what had caused the change in his father's attitude too, but he wasn't sure he liked it. He'd always wanted to gain approval through proof of his own hard work and effort, but now that it was being handed to him on a silver platter, he wasn't sure he wanted it.

But he could see the expectation and certainty on his father's face, and the subtle pride on Romario's, as if he were his own son. And as soon as he saw those things, he knew what his answer would be.

"Of course I will. I'd be glad to."

"Excellent!" Alessandro said with a broad smile. "It's a little too early in the season to be worrying at the moment, but in a few weeks things will really start to get busy. Are you up to it?"

"I am," Dino said with a small smile. "Thank you, Father."

"No need to thank me. You're my only son, Dino. I'm happy that you're ready to learn more. The first thing I want you to do is to help me out with a few of the business forms for the export of our wine to America. We can do that the day after tomorrow if that suits you."

"I'll be there," Dino said, smile becoming a little more genuine as he saw his father's enthusiasm for teaching him.

"Good," Alessandro said, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand and putting his fork down on his plate. "I think I'm too tired to do any more thinking today, so I'm going to go to bed. If I don't see you at breakfast, I'll see you at dinner and in the office after that."

"I'll be going too," Romario said, and Dino almost jumped; the other man had been so silent that he'd almost forgotten he was there. "Goodnight, Sir. Goodnight, Boss."

"Goodnight," Alessandro said as Romario left the room, and he turned to Dino with a grin. "See you tomorrow. I'm proud of you."

Alessandro left the room quickly, and Dino was left to deal with the strange, mixed feeling of happiness and uncertainty on his own.

* * *

><p>Dino woke up early the next morning, attempting to catch either his father or Romario before they left to work around the farm. It turned out to be a pointless endeavour, because they were already long gone by the time he reached the kitchen for breakfast. One of their housekeepers was still in there, however, and made him coffee that tasted much better than any coffee he'd ever made for himself, and gave him a few fresh bread rolls to eat throughout the day. He headed outside to see if either of them were still around the house, but it seems he was far too late to catch them, and he didn't want to bother either of them while they were working.<p>

He was a strange mixture of confidence and nerves, of certainty and cluelessness. He knew that he wanted to have more responsibility, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being introduced to the more complex parts of the business to ensure his father that they were one step ahead of their new competition, rather than out of trust and acknowledgement of his hard work and skill. He wanted to ask stupid, childish questions like if it was okay to want something so badly for so long and then not be sure if you want it anymore once you got it, just to reassure himself that he'd agreed to his father's proposition for the right reasons. Romario seemed like a better option as a confidante, but his father had obviously been through the same thing with his own parents once upon a time, and might have been able to shed some light on his odd combination of emotions if he asked. But now that he'd missed them both for the day, he'd have to wait until the evening because he wasn't sure when they'd be back, or whether they'd have enough time to discuss anything with him.

Well, there was no use worrying over it now. At least he could take Scuderia out and enjoy his day. Scuderia was as enthusiastic as ever to go out, and after he let Baracca into the paddock once again, he prepared Scuderia for the ride and departed for the adjoining empty field.

It was warmer today, and Dino could feel the heat and humidity of the day hit his bare arms as he gently coaxed Scuderia into a canter. The smell of the orange blossoms was a lot stronger too, but there was a slightly stronger smell in the air, mingling with the sweet scent of the oranges and irritating Dino's nose. It was only once he drew closer to the middle of the field that he could see the source of the other smell; the Hibari Family was beginning to plant their own crops in the form of juvenile lemon trees. He could just make out the shapes of people moving in the distance, tending to the plants as they were planted. They were probably taking a risk by planting so late in the spring, but it could still work out well for them if they cared for the plants and if they were lucky.

The Hibari household itself looked as if it was still somewhat deserted from a distance thanks to the worn paint and drawn curtains. But as Dino found himself riding Scuderia closer and closer, he could see that people were entering and exiting the house rapidly, and that all of them were carrying armfuls of tools or materials for setting up their farm, orchard and vineyard. Dino knew that he probably shouldn't watch so carefully, but he still felt that strange fascination towards the family, and figured that it wouldn't hurt to sate it. As he rode Scuderia along the edge of the fence line, he realised that most of the workers were people he knew from the town; some even waved to him or greeted him with a friendly hello. Well, it made sense now that he thought about it; the family couldn't really bring its entire Japanese staff halfway across the world, away from their friends and families for the sake of this vineyard.

As if on cue, a young Japanese man with the most ridiculous hairstyle Dino had ever seen walked over to the fence line, just in front and to the left of Scuderia's head.

"Hello," Dino said, watching as the young man looked him up and down. When the other man frowned, he raised a brow at him and guided Scuderia a little farther away from the fence.

"I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to move away."

"Eh?" Dino said, giving a frown of his own. "Why?"

"I am sorry," the other man said in slightly rusty Italian, "but our Mistress is very protective of her ideas. I cannot count out the possibility you are here to spy."

"I would never do anything like that!" Dino said, feeling confused by the accusation. "I always ride my horse through the field here."

"I'm sorry. I know we have no authority. But for the sake of keeping the peace, I have to ask you to leave."

Dino wanted to say more, wanted to argue his case and be annoyed with the sudden restriction, but the look on the other man's face told him he was serious.

"Okay, I'll leave."

"Thank you. Please enjoy the rest of your day."

The other man left, his ridiculously large hair almost knocking into a nearby lemon tree as he turned around. Figuring that it was easier to just leave rather than to start a greater animosity between his father and Mitsuru Hibari, Dino turned Scuderia around and rode down towards the bottom of the empty field, away from the Hibaris' fence line. That counted up there with the strangest, most polite confrontations he'd ever had in his life. He stole one final, subtle glance over his shoulder at the Hibari household, but didn't bother riding back that way; he would stick to his word. He simply chose to look on from a distance, watching as the tiny, blurry little figures of the farmhands moved about the orchard and worked on their various tasks.

He got so wrapped up in staring and daydreaming, in fact, that he did not see the boy in front of him until he was spoken to.

"Out of my way."

Dino suppressed a yelp and barely managed to keep his balance on Scuderia's back by gripping onto his mane, much to the horse's displeasure. Hibari watched on, a subtle shadow of amusement in his expression as he watched Dino panic.

"W-what the heck?" Dino exclaimed once he'd regained his balance. "Where did you come from?"

"That's none of your concern," Hibari replied. "Being as herbivorous as you are, it was easy to sneak up on you."

"Right," Dino said weakly. He supposed it would be easiest to pretend to know what this brat was on about. It was only after that that he noticed the boy's appearance; it not nearly as near and clean cut as it had been the few days before this one. He was wearing a simple white shirt and black pants that looked like they might have come from a school uniform - if wearing a school uniform in the middle of a field on a farm had made any sense at all, that is. The shirt was scuffed and the pants were torn, and Hibari was wearing a particularly predatory smirk that made Dino feel like a rabbit in the line of sight of a hungry wolf. The strangest thing of all, perhaps, was the fact that the brat was carrying _weapons_; two steel bars with handles to grip onto. Dino suddenly felt that sense of panic and fear of falling creeping back into his system.

"Well, I guess I'll be going before I make this place any more... 'herbivorous'," Dino said, preparing to turn Scuderia around and head for home. He was surprised, however, when Hibari stepped carefully into Scuderia's path and stopped him in his tracks. The horse snuffled nervously, and Dino gave him a reassuring pat.

"You'll leave when I permit it."

"Eh?"

"I'm bored, Cavallone," Hibari said with a smirk. "I usually wouldn't resort to fighting someone as weak as you, but perhaps you will surprise me and be less herbivorous than I estimated."

"What are you even talking about?" Dino questioned, sliding off Scuderia's back. Hibari raised both of his weapons and bared his teeth.

"Prepare yourself."

"W-wait!" Dino shouted, but his words had no effect. A second later, Hibari was running at him with full force, his weapons raised, a bloodthirsty smile on his thin lips and a predatory gleam in his eye.

**To be continued.**

_Notes: _The process of bleeding for a grapevine happens when the vines were pruned in winter. When spring comes around, the change in the soil's temperature and composition causes the vines to "bleed" from the cuts left over from the pruning. It's a sign that the vine is going to start budding.

Ummm, I think that's all I needed to explain... please ask if I missed something!

Reviews are always appreciated.


	3. Chapter Three

This is Chapter Three! Sorry for the lateness, I was kind of lazy over the holiday period. Thanks to celen for proofreading, as usual.

I would like to thank everyone who had favourited or alerted this fic so far. I would also like to thank Ruby, Takoizumegane, ilovesmilingfools and dead or alive0013 for their reviews. To answer a question... yes, there is going to be lemon content in later chapters. I don't really want to estimate the exact chapter or anything because my plans can still change... but yes, there will be smut.

Thanks very much for supporting me, and enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>It was the same dream he dreamed every time he shut his eyes and let sleep take him, but he doesn't mind the repetition; this was something he could relive a million times over, and he's sure that he could live in the dream for the rest of his days if anyone ever asked it of him.<em>

_The sun was bright above his head and the grass was pleasantly cool beneath his bare feet. He took a step forward and moved from the grass to soft, newly-turned earth, and he curled his toes in silent contentment. A moment later, there was a warm, comforting weight on his left arm, and he felt more content than he has ever felt in all the years of his life._

_"Good morning, Sandro."_

_She was whispering his name against the shell of his ear over and over, wanting him focus on nothing but her. He gladly complied, feeling as if he was in her thrall, and he laughed softly and spun around on the spot as he embraced her. She laughed in return, voice so full of happiness that the sound was like the sweetest music to his ears. He released her from his embrace, traced the curve of her shoulder up to the nape of her neck with his fingertips, and grinned when she bit her lip and gave him a cheeky smile._

_"What are you staring at?"_

_Alessandro's smile widened and he leaned down to chase the hint of pink on her cheeks with his lips, finishing at the curve of her collarbone. She shivered beneath his touch, and her kissed her again, feeling the warmth of his own breath on her skin. She was so pale, so delicate, so utterly perfect to him, that the work-roughened, sun-darkened skin of his own hands seemed almost too harsh with which to touch her._

_"You're so beautiful, Celeste."_

_She shied away from him for a moment, lips curving into a small smile that made his heart thump painfully inside his chest. His hand moved from the back of her neck, separating one golden strand of hair from the rest so he could curl it delicately around the length of his index finger. Brown eyes gazed up at him with confidence that he wished he could feel, and he drew her closer to him, as if hoping to feed on her strength._

_"All of this is yours now."_

_Alessandro smiled at Celeste, and looked over her shoulder to the freshly-turned soil that would soon be the orange orchard she had wanted to plant. They would plant it in the next few weeks as the weather got warmer... if they had the time. Feeling giddy with emotion and expectation, he placed his hands on her hips, and then moved them over her skin to rest gently on the curve of her belly. He could feel the movement of new life, their child, beneath his palms, and it made him feel full of hope for the future that they would make together._

_"No, Celeste. All of this is **ours**."_

* * *

><p>The next thing that Alessandro was aware of was the hand on his shoulder shaking him awake, and the horrid, lethargic feeling that sleeping in the middle of the day left him with.<p>

"Wake up, Sir."

Alessandro suppressed a yawn and blinked a few times to rid his eyes of the heavy feeling of sleep. Romario withdrew his hand and stood at the side of the desk with his hands behind his back, looking curious.

"Tired?"

"Not particularly," Alessandro murmured, avoiding Romario's eyes as he sat up in his chair. Romario remained silent, so he shuffled a pile of papers in front of him for something to do and cleared his throat. Romario watched him for a few seconds more, and spoke just as Alessandro was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Something troubling you, Sir?"

"No. Nothing," Alessandro said, realising too late that his tone of voice and eagerness to reassure Romario that he was fine probably seemed suspicious. "Just tired." He hesitated again. "Dreamed about silly things."

Romario still looked concerned, but Alessandro didn't want to elaborate further. Romario would probably think he was ridiculous for remembering things like that - and still being sad to realise they were a dream - after so long. He caught sight of the stack of papers clutched in the other man's right hand, and quickly set about changing the subject.

"Are those the newspaper articles that I asked for?"

"I don't know if they'll be of any use to you," Romario replied, placing the papers on the edge of the desk. "It's not easy to find information on their family without being fluent in Japanese."

"And are you?"

The corners of Romario's lips twitched. "I don't think there's been a good reason for any of us to be fluent in Japanese until now. What would we use it for?"

Alessandro smirked and flipped through the pages of articles. Most were probably pulled up from the archive of some sort of Japanese wine newsletter, because only a few of them looked as if they were from a professional newspaper. Some of the articles were accompanied by photos of the Hibari family, but most of these photos were either identical copies of a stock photo of the family in front of their vineyard that looked like it was from some sort of advertisement, or shots of Mitsuru Hibari accepting various awards. Feeling slightly irritated, Alessandro pushed the papers aside and turned back to his laptop. The Hibari family's website was still up on the screen, but it didn't seem to hold much interesting information. The only thing he'd really discovered from looking at it was that they grew a mixture of white and red grapes, if the photographs of their wines were anything to go buy. Well, that was better than nothing, he supposed.

Romario was still standing next to him. The silence hanging between them wasn't awkward, exactly, but it was annoying; it was obvious that Romario wanted to voice his opinion on the situation, but was holding back out of politeness or concern. He was shifting uncomfortably, as if the entire atmosphere of the room was bothering him, and Alessandro let out a soft sigh.

"Something on your mind, Romario?"

"I was just wondering, Sir..." Romario started, clearing his throat once more to give himself time to breathe before continuing, "I was wondering what you plan on doing with all of this information. It's not as if anyone here can translate it for you."

"I'm not sure," Alessandro admitted. He smiled ruefully and moved the papers to the side. "Call it blind optimism, but I was hoping to find something that would give us the edge over them if they're planning to go into competition with us."

"It was worth a try, Sir," Romario said, but Alessandro could tell he was only trying to placate him. "Incidentally, are you planning on breaking with tradition for the new wine?"

"Why do you ask?"

"If you were planning on doing the same thing as every year, I doubt that you'd be trying to research ways to one-up our competition."

"... maybe."

Romario was silent, and Alessandro gave him a knowing look. "Surprised?"

"A little, but perhaps this is for the best."

"It's frightening, actually. It's going against everything I was taught about the business, but at the same time it feels emancipating to be able to call on my own knowledge. I want to show that I can adapt to challenges as they come. I want them to know our business isn't a one-trick pony. And I want Dino to know about all of the methods he can use to make wine for our family, even if the mere suggestion probably makes my father roll in his grave."

Romario nodded once, understanding, and Alessandro sighed.

"But at the same time, I feel as if I'm taking a huge risk on something that could end but being a terrible failure."

"You've never steered us wrong before, Sir," Romario said, and the certainty in his voice was an immediate comfort to Alessandro's frayed nerves. Still, he didn't want to give up feeling pessimistic just yet, so he forced a bitter laugh and shrugged.

"There's a first time for everything, Romario. But enough about that for now. I think lunch should be ready by now, and once that's done we're going down to the back paddock."

That caught Romario's attention. "If I may ask, Sir... why?"

"A risky idea that just might pay off. Let's pray that it does," Alessandro said, and Romario nodded once, obviously wanting to press the issue but refraining until it was directly addressed.

Alessandro felt a little dizzy as he stood up, and figured the lack of sleep and food was getting to him. Romario noticed too, but didn't say anything, instead opting to wait in silence until his boss was ready to move. The realisation that he wasn't taking care of himself hit him a little harder than it should have, and he knew why; flashes of warm brown eyes and golden hair flashed through his mind, unwarranted and hurtful enough to make his heart constrict painfully in his chest. As Romario opened the office door and waited for him in the hall, Alessandro tried to assume an air of nonchalance.

"Do you think she would have known what to do, Romario? Do you think I'd be making the same choices?"

The sudden tension in Romario's frame was enough to prove that he knew of whom he was speaking, but he seemed intent on avoiding the question. Alessandro's reflexive reaction was to be annoyed that mentioning her elicited that sort of reaction from his most trusted friend, but he supposed that it was rare for them to speak of her in the first place. He wasn't even sure why he was doing it; the tight sensation in his chest was getting worse, and he could feel the tension of emotion repressed in his shoulders and neck.

"She may have known, Sir," Romario started, choosing his words carefully, "and I'm sure she would have helped you as best she could. But I think you're more than capable..."

The unspoken words _on your own_ hung heavy in the air, but Alessandro didn't mind it. There was never going to be an easy way to phrase things like this, and so he ignored the emotions churning in the back of his mind and smiled at Romario, grateful for the reassurance.

"Thank you, Romario."

"No problem, Sir," Romario said, relief evident in his expression. "Lunch then?"

"Sounds good," Alessandro replied, smile only slightly forced. The two men headed downstairs together for their meals, the silence hanging between them too long to be comfortable.

* * *

><p>If someone had told Dino that he would be fighting for his life against an irate, armed Japanese teenager a mere few hundred meters from his own home that morning, he would have laughed it off as some elaborate joke and asked them exactly how much of his family's produce they'd consumed in the past twenty-four hours. It still sounded beyond ridiculous to him, even as he held his arms defensively in front of his face to protect himself from said irate teenager; normal people didn't do things like this, damn it, and this kid was either completely unstable or just filled with an unnatural lust for blood.<p>

Neither of these things sounded good to Dino, and as he took another defensive step back and made another desperate plea for a truce, he wondered how the heck he was supposed to stop the violent brat from beating the tar out of him and leaving him in the middle of the abandoned lot. Every one of Hibari's movements was elegant, executed with perfect accuracy and stunning force, and if Dino hadn't been on the receiving end of his attacks then he probably would have been impressed. The end of Hibari's weapon caught the side of Dino's face, leaving a cut deep enough to draw blood along the line of his jaw. Dino hissed in pain, but Hibari didn't seem to be discouraged at all. In fact, there seemed to be a new light in Hibari's eyes that Dino found decidedly sinister, a strange sort of hunger that made his stomach twist uncomfortably with nerves.

Dino took another step back to avoid the next blow, snagged his foot on something solid that was thoroughly hidden by the long grass, and fell backwards with such a lack of coordination that he had to take a few seconds to let the world stop spinning before he propped himself up on his elbows. He felt a hand curl into the neckline of his shirt and yank him forward, slim fingers still shaking with adrenaline and palm slick with swear. Hibari's skin had a sickly metallic smell to it, and Dino wondered if the scent is made sharper by the blood running down the side of his own face. Both of them are breathing in short, controlled pants, but it's Hibari whose breath slowed first; Dino listened as it gradually fades to a satisfied sigh, and a second later he feels the chill of cold steel against his neck.

"Pathetic," Hibari hissed, the pressure of the weapon on Dino's neck intensifying. "You've wasted my time, Cavallone."

Annoyance suddenly flared in the back of Dino's mind; this battle-crazy brat came out of nowhere, ran at him with weapons raised while he stood frozen, unarmed and confused by his sudden change of attitude and lust for violence. He hadn't asked for this to happen, and all he'd tried to do was be polite and leave so this brat's family didn't have to bother with throwing more thinly-veiled threats and accusations his way. He'd been in his presence for less than ten minutes combined since he'd first met him, and he'd already decided that Hibari was one of the strangest, most unreasonable people he'd ever met.

Dino didn't know why he did it or even which strange, dark corner of his brain spurred him into action, but the next thing he knew he was throwing his fist at Hibari with as much force as he could muster. He saw the look of shock on Hibari's face a split second before he made contact, and the smaller boy's head whiplashed backward from the force, sending him off-balance and causing him to let go of Dino's collar. Dino got to his feet, knees buckling beneath him as he tried to stay steady. Hibari had already regained his composure and was staring at Dino with an expression that fell somewhere between curiosity and absolute rage. A second later he was face-to-face with Dino, staring him directly in the eye, blood from his injured nose streaming down his face as he drove his weapons into Dino's stomach, stealing the air from his lungs and sending him face-down into the long grass.

Dino felt as if he was going to be sick from the pain, and bit down on the side of his hand as he struggled to get air back into his body. He looked up just in time to see Hibari turning to leave.

"Brat," Dino said with a gasp, forcing himself back to his feet. There's a strange emotion on Hibari's face, and if Dino didn't know better then he would've said that Hibari was impressed by his determination. The corners of the other boy's lips twitched into a smirk, and he dropped his arms to his sides, signaling without a doubt that he'd declared himself the victor of their battle.

"Give up. I'm not going to bother with biting you to death when you're so laughably weak."

"No," Dino said, his voice sounding foreign to his own ears. "I won't."

Hibari's expression changed to one of irritation, but Dino pressed on.

"I'll fight you again."

"Why? You've already wasted enough of my time." Hibari asked. Dino didn't know how to answer that - heck, he barely knew what he was saying, or why he was saying it - but he figured the best course of action would be to call Hibari on his bluff; although he sounded bored, Dino could see that the promise of another fight was an interesting proposition to him.

"Because this time," Dino said, both hands cradling his bruised ribs, "next time I'll beat you."

Hibari's thin lips curled back over his teeth, and he licked some of the dry blood that had run from his nose away from his top lip when it cracked and itched his skin.

"We'll meet here again tomorrow, Cavallone."

Dino nodded, ignoring his smarting ribs long enough to stand properly and face Hibari.

"If nothing else, biting you to death may be satisfying."

"I'll be here," Dino stated evenly, ribs aching with every heaving breath he took.

Hibari regarded him for a moment, as if tempted to add something else. But in the end, all he did was sniff in a dismissive fashion and begin the walk back to his own home without a second look back at Dino.

As soon as he was sure that he was out of Hibari's sight, Dino fell down into the grass and caught his breath, both arms on the back of his head despite his body's reflexive urge to cradle his aching ribs. He didn't know what exactly made him challenge the Hibari brat to another fight when he was at such a clear disadvantage, but something about him had irritated him severely enough to try. Perhaps it was the fact that the Hibaris were new to the area and had still ordered him around on land that they should have no control over. Perhaps it was the fact that Hibari's final insult had hit home harder than he thought it would. Or perhaps, Dino thought with a small grin, it was simply the tempting idea of seeing the brat get taken down a peg or two. Even if he came out of the fight the loser, at least he would have tried. And, strangely enough, the thought of landing another hit on Hibari didn't terrify him so much as it filled him with a sick brand of anticipation.

Once Dino felt comfortable enough to walk the distance home, he retrieved a nervous-looking Scuderia, giving him a few pats before beginning to lead him home; his ribs were too sore to endure the rough gait of the horse's trot, and Scuderia still looked a little too twitchy for him to feel comfortable with riding him home. The walk seemed to take a million times longer than the ride, but he eventually made it back home, put Scuderia out into the paddock with Baracca and sneaked inside to get the first aid kit from the downstairs bathroom to patch up his face; he may have been a bit on the clumsy side normally, but his father and Romario would undoubtedly ask about a wound so severe regardless of that, and he didn't know how well he could lie to either of them when he was so tired.

As he raised a swab covered with alcohol to the thin cut on his face, using the bathroom mirror as a guide, he considered the situation without the rush of adrenaline to warp his thoughts.

It was then that he realised he would have to seriously think about how in the world he was supposed to best Hibari with no sort of knowledge or skill in fighting and no weapon.

* * *

><p>After he'd tended to his wounds, Dino dragged himself upstairs to his bedroom and promptly collapsed on his bed, the cut on his face still stinging from the alcoholic swab. He tried to distract himself for a while to pass the time; he took Enzo out of his cage and let him wander around on top of the bed, only putting the tortoise back in his cage after he mistook the tip of his finger for something edible. He searched around his desk for something to read, and found nothing but a stacks of photocopied papers to do with the winery's accounts and one lone Ferrari racing magazine from a few months ago that he'd already read from cover to cover twice. Eventually he decided the best course of action was to try and take a nap. His ribs had stopped aching some time ago, but the rest of his body felt heavy and exhausted. Silently thankful for the fact that no one would bother him until dinner, Dino shut his eyes, pulled the sheet at the end of his bed up to his waist and tried to rest. Unfortunately, his mind took the opportunity to bother him about the events of the day.<p>

The Hibari kid seemed to have an unnatural amount of strength and battle-lust for someone who looked so young; if Dino had to hazard a guess at his age, he probably would have guessed him to be sixteen or seventeen, two or three years his junior. Dino had never met anyone with the same mentality, or even someone who was vaguely similar in attitude to the brat. Although he'd been in the odd schoolyard fight or two during his school years - all of which he'd lost spectacularly - he'd never met anyone close to his age that was so strong. There were men and boys in Aprocrifo who would certainly throw a punch or kick at you if you got on their bad side, but it wasn't as if they were trained to fight. Their movements were not nearly as practiced and precise as Hibari's were, an evident sign that he'd had more training in the field than the men who mindlessly threw punches... or he'd at least trained himself to the point that every one of his attacks looked effortless and elegant.

_'And I, Dino Cavallone, got caught up in the moment and challenged this guy to a rematch because I felt that he needed to be taught a lesson.'_

Enzo shuffled around loudly in his cage, searching for morsels of food he'd missed the night before. Dino sighed irritably at his own actions and pulled the sheets up to his shoulders with more force than he needed to use. The bottom of the sheet slipped out from where it had been beneath the mattress, leaving Dino's feet exposed instead. A chill spring breeze chose that exact moment to blow through Dino's open window, and Dino groaned softly. Today just wasn't his lucky day.

He wasn't sure when it happened, but he eventually managed to fall asleep despite all of the outside distractions the world was trying to force upon his mind. The next thing he knew, he was stifling a yawn and wondering just how long he'd been asleep. He quickly fumbled around for the small digital clock he kept on his bedside table, and noted with some relief that it was still forty-five minutes until dinner. Figuring that he had nothing better to do with himself, he headed for his bathroom for a quick shower before the meal. The first thing he did on reaching the bathroom was to check the cut on the side of his face, and he was pleased to see that it looked far less inflamed than it had looked before he took his nap. Silently hoping that neither his father or Romario would ask about it, Dino showered quickly, wrapped a towel around himself and headed back to his room to change into something fresher after realising he forgot to bring new clothes to change into. It was getting dark now, and Enzo had withdrawn into his shell for a nap. Dino did his best not to move the chest of drawers around too much as he searched for something to wear. He managed to extract clean clothes from the drawers without waking his pet up, and he dressed quickly for the sake of having something to do. He didn't really want to dwell on what would happen the next day until the the time came.

Surprisingly enough, he was the first one at dinner that night. His father and Romario were usually far more punctual than he was, due to his habit of letting his mind wander when he was out on rides with Scuderia, or getting so absorbed in his work that he didn't notice the sun going down until it was too dark for him to see his hands in front of his face. One of their employees had already prepared dinner and left it on the table; the tiny swirls of steam coming off the meat told Dino it was still very fresh. He waited five minutes for his father and Romario, then ten, and when it reached the fifteen minute mark and the steam had long since faded from his dinner, Dino decided it was best to start eating without them.

Alessandro and Romario eventually walked in a good half hour after their usual dinner time, looking overheated and exhausted from the day's work. Romario waved vaguely in Dino's direction in greeting, but Alessandro merely fell into his chair without a glance at his son.

"Long day?" Dino questioned after he'd swallowed the food in his mouth. Alessandro almost jumped out of his skin, and stared at Dino in a way that suggested that he hadn't even noticed him there.

"You could put it like that. Lots of manual labor down in the back paddock."

"What were you doing down there?" Dino asked. He couldn't remember a single time in his life that his father had bothered to use the paddock at the bottom of their property for anything.

"I had a good idea that might give us an edge. But no, I won't bother going into details until I'm sure that it's going to come through for us," Alessandro said, ignoring the fact that Dino hadn't asked him anything yet. Dino nodded, his eyes flickering over to Romario to see if his expression gave anything away. He was surprised to see that the other man was tense and silent, his eyes fixed on Alessandro as if there was something uncomfortable left unsaid between them that he desperately wanted to voice. Well, if he had any say in it, he would have questioned exactly who or what they needed an edge over in the first place, but Romario's expression made him wary. Dino frowned, but quickly turned his attention back to his father so he wasn't questioned over his sudden silence.

"I guess I'll find out if it works out, right?"

Alessandro nodded, smiling but thin-lipped. He stifled a yawn and shoveled a forkful of food into his mouth, and this time Romario spoke up.

"Sir, if I may suggest something?"

"You may," Alessandro said, in a tone that implied that he'd take Romario's opinion into account but would probably end up ignoring it.

"You should take the day off tomorrow, take time to recover from the past few days."

"I can't," Alessandro said with a defiant shake of his head. "It's getting back into the busy season for us, and I can't afford to take a day off until I'm sure everything is going to get done on time. And what's more, I promised Dino we'd start on those forms tomorrow. It's important for him to learn the ropes as soon as possible, you know."

Dino resisted the urge to ask his father why he waited nearly two decades for the first lesson, and gave Alessandro a half-hearted smile instead. It was clear that his father wanted him on his side, but the exhaustion and stress he was showing was too much for Dino to ignore.

"I actually think it might be a good idea, Father."

The corner of Alessandro's lip twitched, as if he was trying to chase away a particularly irksome fly without lifting a finger. Dino cleared his throat quickly and continued.

"I mean, we can still write the forms in the afternoon, but I think it would be best if you took the rest of the day off."

Alessandro looked like he was about to argue the point again, but neither Dino or Romario looked as if they were about to back down. He finally sighed and took another bite of his food with one palm over his eyes, as if the idea of taking a single day off traumatised him so deeply that he didn't want to look at himself.

"Fine. Tomorrow, I take the day off. Tomorrow _only_."

"There's a small fair happening two towns over," Romario said, tossing Alessandro his usual copy of the newspaper from across the table. "Perhaps we can visit that?"

"That might be useful. We can check out the competitors in the wine contest and have a look at the quality of the livestock and produce in comparison to ours," Alessandro replied, and Romario looked as if he was trying very hard not to roll his eyes. Dino covered the chuckle that escaped from his lips by faking a cough.

"Speaking of livestock... Dino, isn't there something you forgot to do?"

"Huh?" Dino questioned stupidly, this time choking on his food for real. He quickly washed his food down with the glass of water next to his plate. "What do you mean?"

"Baracca and Scuderia are still out in the paddock," Alessandro said, and Dino mentally cursed himself. It wasn't as if it was cold enough for it to be a danger for either of them to be left out a little late, but they would be harder to shift to the stables if they'd already settled for the night, and it had been part of his job to take care of both horses ever since they'd bought them. He felt ridiculously forgetful, and worried that his father would see him as irresponsible on the eve of the beginning of his training to take over the business.

"I'll go move them now," Dino said, finishing off the rest of his food at record speed. "Sorry, Father."

"Everyone forgets these things sometimes," Alessandro said lightly, and Dino could tell that his father was trying his best to sound overly uncaring because it actually genuinely concerned him. As Dino rushed out of the dining room, still chewing on his last mouthful of food, Romario sighed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Alessandro looked at him, a little too sharp for the gaze to be casual, and lifted his wine glass to drink.

"Problem, Romario?"

"Don't be so hard on him, Sir."

"I'm not," Alessandro said with a shrug. "He needs to learn responsibility."

"He's forgotten once in four or five years. That's not a bad average," Romario said, grabbing his paper back from his Boss and walking to the door, leaving his food mostly untouched. "He's trying. Cut him some slack."

Romario left after that. Alessandro was silent and still for a few moments before he stabbed the last bit of meat on his plate with his fork with a little too much force and went back to eating his dinner alone.

* * *

><p>Dino felt frustrated with himself. It was such an inconsequential thing when he thought about it; it was cool, but it wasn't as if it was the middle of winter and he'd left Scuderia and Baracca to freeze in the middle of the snow and cold. On the other hand, the disappointed tone of his father's voice echoing in his mind annoyed him far more than it should have; he hated the idea of doing anything to disappoint his father or Romario. His father had shown a strangely large amount of faith and trust in him as of late, and Romario had been with his family since before he could remember, had always helped him when he'd needed it and placed his faith in him. He felt that by forgetting even the most menial tasks given to him, he was letting his father, Romario and the family business down.<p>

Dino went into the stable, grabbed a lead rope for both horses and walked out to the paddock. He stared fruitlessly into the darkness for a few seconds before coming to the conclusion that both horses must have been on the opposite side of the paddock. Wishing that he'd had the presence of mind to bring a flashlight to help him see in the dark, Dino held one hand out in front of him until it made contact with the paddock's fence line, and he followed it around to the gate. He took a few paces across the field and spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Taking a few cautious steps forward, his hunch was confirmed; Scuderia was standing against the far edge of the fence line, looking slightly drowsy but otherwise perfectly okay. Dino approached him slowly, and Scuderia reacted with a nervous snuffle and a slow step back.

"It's alright, Scuderia," Dino murmured. Scuderia trotted in the direction of his master's voice, all uncertainly gone in the blink of an eye. Dino snapped one of the lead ropes onto the horse's halter immediately, and gave him a gentle pat along the length of his nose. That was the easiest part of the job done, Dino decided as he led Scuderia back to the stable. Even if he did luck out and found Baracca to be in an agreeable mood, it was more difficult to find a horse with a black coat in the dark than it was to find a light bay horse like Scuderia.

Making sure Scuderia was secure, Dino departed from the stable and headed back into the paddock, eyes straining to catch a glimpse of Baracca in the dim light of the quarter moon. A sudden movement to his left almost made Dino shout in fright, and Baracca made his presence further known with an aggressive, reflexive kick of his right back leg. Dino breathed out slowly and stayed still, refusing to advance on the horse until both of his hind legs were firmly on the ground. It took about five minutes for Baracca to calm down, but eventually his posture became less aggressive and his breathing evened out. Dino knew that he'd probably startled Baracca - it wasn't as if the horses could see that much better in the dark than he could - and thought it would have been unfair of him to get annoyed at the animal for reacting naturally to a perceived threat. The next time he approached him, Baracca stayed still, let Dino rest his hand on his shoulder as his lead rope was attached to his halter. The horse still seemed just the slightest bit tense, just enough for Dino to be able to note the awkward tension in his movements when he started leading him toward the paddock gate.

Dino tried saying the same soothing things to Baracca as he had to Scuderia, ensuring that his voice was as calm as it could possibly be. Baracca was still twitchy even as Dino led him into the stables, despite the familiar surroundings. The sound of Baracca's hooves hitting the concrete floor of the stable echoed just enough to make the back of Dino's neck prickle uncomfortably. It wasn't as if he was in any immediate danger, but the horses being unsettled made him feel apprehensive. A few more steps and his instincts proved to be right; Baracca snorted and tried to pull his lead rope from Dino's grip. Fortunately enough, Dino wasn't prepared to deal with another incident like the one at the fair; this time he was ready when Baracca tried to shy away from him, and he kept a firm grip on the horse's rope until he calmed down. Baracca struggled and snorted for a few more minutes, but eventually gave in and allowed Dino to lead him back to his stall.

Dino was just slightly annoyed by Baracca's behaviour. He admitted that he didn't know Baracca half as well as he knew Scuderia; Scuderia was his horse, Baracca was his father's, and they'd always stuck to their own horses and left the other alone. He didn't know whether Baracca's more assertive nature was the result of his father's habit of spoiling the horse, his personality in general or the headstrong, rebellious streak that stallions sometimes showed. Baracca was a fine example of excellent breeding, but he seemed to be one of those temperamental animals who liked to see just how far he could push people before they snapped and took firmer control of his movements. Scuderia was smaller and less impressive from a breeder's perspective, but he had a better personality, was much calmer than Baracca and obeyed Dino without question. Dino had barely ever seen Scuderia in a bad mood, whereas Baracca seemed to be in a constant state of rebellion. Still, he couldn't really do much to try and help Baracca; he didn't spend enough time with the horse or have enough of his trust, and he lacked the desire to try and alter his disposition with harsher discipline. Even if he ignored the fact that he disliked the idea of using the stockwhip in any way, let alone actually striking any of the animals, the thought of what his father would say to him if he found out he was doing that sort of thing to Baracca was rather terrifying in itself. It was nerve-wracking enough that he was set to get the battering of his life from the Hibari brat the next day without the thought of his father shouting at him for attempting to discipline Baracca.

As Dino shut the door of Baracca's cubicle in the stable, he felt his mind come to a sudden halt.

_The whip._ It seemed like such an obvious choice of weapon, considering his skill when using it; he'd screwed around with it since he was a kid under the watchful eye of his father or Romario, and as he'd grown his skills had progressed from waving the leather around aimlessly to actually being able to properly aim and strike. He desperately needed an edge against Hibari, something that would make his odds more even and balanced. The alternative was to try to fight him bare-handed, and probably get crushed into a fine paste by the battle-crazy brat in the process.

Still, his mind was protesting against the idea of using a weapon at all. He barely had the heart to consider using the whip on the horses, let alone on another human being. He'd used it on inanimate objects for practice, but he always hesitated to use it on another living thing. The idea of turning any sort of weapon on another person, even one as irritating and arrogant as Hibari, seemed completely unnecessary and dangerous. He leaned against the door of Scuderia's stall, frowning in concentration and trying to figure out the best course of action. The advantages versus the disadvantages, the danger of using such a weapon versus the security of having it to defend himself, trying to pinpoint and figure out the limits of his opponent's strength and whether he could handle being struck repeatedly with the whip. Dino shook his head and ran one hand through his hair, frustrated by the amount of things he needed to consider. After a few moments of staring at the back of his master's head and munching on hay from the rack on the wall, Scuderia walked over to the door of his stall and nudged the back of Dino's head with his nose. Dino's frown deepened, but he shifted and reached up to pat Scuderia's muzzle. He was rewarded with a lick and a slightly wet-sounding snort right in the middle of his palm, and it was then that Dino decided that it was probably better to go somewhere without any outside distractions to think.

Dino found himself wandering down the left side of the house a few minutes later, not really remembering how he'd ended up at that precise location in the first place; he'd been so absorbed in his thoughts, so internally conflicted that he hadn't really payed any attention to where he was walking. He could see the outline of the horse trailer that they'd used to take Baracca and Scuderia to the fair. The light was dim, but it was enough for him to see the outlines of the metal bars and sheets of meta that that trailer was made of. It looked almost skeletal in the dark, but the one thing that caught his eye was the cause of his dilemma itself. The stockwhip was still hanging from the side of the trailer, exactly where he had last seen it. It had probably been hanging loose from the trailer since the fair, the slimmer pieces of leather getting tossed around in the breeze. Dino reached out instinctively to grab it, and was relieved to feel that the leather had not been damaged by the weather or torn. The leather felt cool beneath his fingertips, and its texture was so smooth that it made his fingertips and hands seem positively rough in contrast.

Dino curled the fall and thong of the whip around one of his arms and grasped the stock with his free hand. It felt... almost natural. It was quite comfortable enough to be second-nature to him, but he'd never had to consider using it as a weapon before. He couldn't really think of any alternative that was safer, or that he felt he was more skilled at wielding. He honestly felt that facing Hibari with a weapon was the only way to even give him a slim chance of victory.

He would control himself. He would be the bigger person. If he felt that he was doing any sort of permanent damage to Hibari, he would refuse to strike. A violent brat's violent whims were nothing to get too worked up over. He would stop if he felt that things were getting too dangerous, but until that moment came, he would fight Hibari with the all of his strength.

And then, just as Dino felt that things were finally falling into place, a small voice in the back of his mind had to cast doubt upon the entire situation with a single word.

_Why?_

Why was he doing this in the first place? Why was he catering to Hibari's whims if they were nothing more than an attempt to draw him into another humiliating defeat? There was, of course, the matter of family pride... but there were many other ways that he family could prove that his family was superior to the Hibari family, especially considering the business they were both in. Why in the world would he bother to go through all of this for such a superficial reason?

Dino thought back to the way Hibari had acted, tried to recall exactly how he'd felt at the moment when he'd challenged him again. It was hard to describe. He'd felt angry, frustrated, discouraged and confused, but he'd also felt something completely different. He'd felt... challenged by Hibari's strength. Intrigued by his personality. Focused on how completely different he was to everyone else he'd ever met. Dino swallowed against the dry feeling in his throat and felt his heart give a sharp, uncomfortable beat against his ribs. He didn't think that the thought of anyone else had ever made him react this way. It was a strange blend of anticipation, aggression, resignation, and something he couldn't quite describe that made his heart give another painful beat.

Steeling his mind against such uncertainties, Dino unraveled the whip from around his forearm and let the length of it fall to his side. He needed to focus.

The first lash of the whip was clumsy and amateur, falling far from the spot on the ground he'd mentally chosen as his target. The tenth was a little better, and Dino allowed himself a smile before continuing. At fifty strikes he decided his target area was too large, so he decided to focus on a smaller target instead; a leaf nestled between the overgrown blades of spring grass. Another fifty strikes passed and the leaf had been reduced to tiny pieces that Dino watched as they blew away in the wind. He moved into the stable after that, deciding it was finally too dark to see anything properly, and decided that a good strategy would be to try and use his whip to trip Hibari over. He aimed his whip at the doors of the unoccupied end stalls and tried to get his whip to wrap around the latches on the doors and stay steady. He couldn't do it, and after a half hour of frustration, he practiced on the thick wooden beams running from the floor to the roof instead. That worked a little better, and once he'd managed to wrap his whip around the wooden beams multiple times, he went back to the latches. It was easier this time, and he felt his confidence rise with every successful attempt.

Baracca and Scuderia twitched their ears irritably as the whip snapped, but Dino didn't pay them any mind. He practised until the cold started to get unbearable, until every muscle along his arms and shoulders ached, until he felt completely satisfied that he would at least go down fighting against Hibari, rather than stumbling backwards and trying desperately to defend himself.

He said goodnight to the horses, went back into the house and retrieved some food for Enzo from the bottom of the refrigerator. He glanced at the kitchen clock on his way out, and realised he'd been out for so long that it was almost early rather than late. He headed up to his room, gave an irate-looking Enzo his food, stripped off his dirty clothes and got into bed. His mind was still racing with strategies and doubts, even as he shut his eyes. The first thing Dino could recall the next day was that it took him far longer than usual to fall asleep.

* * *

><p>Dino woke up early the next day, but not of his own free will. After tossing and turning and finally falling asleep for a meager few hours, he decided that the best thing to do would be to get up, have breakfast and then practice with the whip for a little while longer. He grabbed it from where it had been abandoned on his desk the night before, had a quick shower, dressed himself in the most comfortable shirt and pants that he owned and headed down to the kitchen.<p>

Their cook seemed surprised to see anyone up so early, let alone his boss's son, but he provided Dino with a few fresh rolls of bread and brewed him a fresh pot of coffee. Dino sat in the dining room by himself, tearing chunks of bread from the rolls and tossing them into his mouth, all the while staring vaguely at the opposite wall and trying to remember exactly which motion of his arm, wrist and hand had given his whip a sharper, more accurate strike the night before. He drank two cups off coffee once the liquid had cooled down and left the rest on the table, figuring his father and Romario would be awake soon anyway.

Dino went back to the stable after that. Scuderia looked almost giddy with excitement and anticipation to see his master awake so early, but Dino had already decided against taking either of the horses with him that day. Scuderia had been frightened the day before, and Dino didn't want to risk the horse bolting from the field. And if Scuderia had been upset, Baracca would only be twice as bad. He put both horses into the paddock, surprised to find that they were both behaving extremely well that morning. He watched them canter around for a while before settling down to graze on the grass; that was his break for the morning, Dino decided. He wouldn't take another one until it came time to meet Hibari for their fight.

His muscles were still aching from the day before, but he ignored it. It wasn't as if this was something he was planning to do every day. He could survive a little bit of discomfort if it meant putting up a good fight. He was far more confident than he'd felt the day before, but he still doubted that he could defeat Hibari outright.

He trained and perfected his technique until he lost track of time. There was something surprisingly relaxing about cracking the whip against his targets over and over again, a quality that was almost therapeutic. If it hadn't taken so much of his energy away from him, he would have said that he liked it. It wasn't until he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow that he realised how humid it had become in the barn, which led him to worry about exactly what time it was. A quick trip back into the house and a glance at the kitchen clock told him that he was running about fifteen minutes late for his meeting with Hibari, and after a few moments of panic he set off for the abandoned lot, whip slung carelessly around his right shoulder.

Dino realised three things on his way to the meeting spot. The first was that it had become ridiculously hot overnight, and he was running to make up for time. The second was that there were many hidden tripping hazards in the overgrown grass, and he seemed to be walking directly past most of them. The third was that it took much, much longer to cross the field when you weren't on the back of a horse that had energy to spare. By the time he reached the place that he had agreed to meet Hibari at, he was panting, his shirt was dark with sweat, and his legs and arms felt like jelly. Hibari was there, as he promised he would be; Dino had noticed the brat watching him from a great distance with a dispassionate look on his face. He was leaning nonchalantly against a broken piece of fence, weapons in hand, his little yellow puffball of a bird sitting on the crown of his head preening its feathers. He was wearing the same school uniform as he'd been wearing the day before, but this one was in pristine condition and looked almost new. Once Dino had caught his breath, Hibari glanced at him with an irritated frown.

"You're late, Cavallone."

"And yet you waited for me," Dino said with a grin, uncurling the whip and letting it drop to his side. Hibari watched it, his eyes fixated on every movement of the weapon in Dino's hand. Once he'd finally stopped staring at the whip, his eyes fixed on Dino, expression more annoyed than before.

"Don't mistake my waiting for anticipation or respect, Cavallone. The sole reason I wasted my time was for the chance to bite you to death."

"I'm not," Dino said plainly, trying to ignore the rapid beating of his heart. "Though if you'd left, I probably would have just assumed you'd gotten scared and run off home."

Hibari's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he raised both of his weapons in front of his face. "This isn't the time for bragging and long-winded speeches, Cavallone. Let's do what we came here to do before you bore me any further."

Hibari lunged forward and attacked Dino without any further warning, the look in his eyes making the hairs on the back of Dino's neck stand on end. Dino barely had time to avoid the attack before the next one; he narrowly avoided that one too, and took a rapid step backward to give himself the range he would need to attack Hibari. Hibari hesitated, and Dino was half-suspicious that he was slowing down just to see what Dino's attacks were capable of doing to him. Dino steeled his resolve, brandished the whip above his head and flung it towards Hibari. The smaller man's expression instantaneously changed from one of smug superiority to shock, and the sudden flash of bright red across his cheek and lips told Dino that the whip had met its mark. Dino had to resist the urge to ask if Hibari was all right, but Hibari regained his composure before he had the chance. His expression was one of anger and amusement twisted into one, and Dino felt himself shudder beneath his gaze as he licked clean the blood running from his cut lip.

"Good, Cavallone," Hibari murmured. "Perhaps this won't be the most disappointing fight I've had after all."

What followed was the most exhilarating, frightening, violent thing that Dino had ever done in his life. Hibari seemed to meet him blow for blow, neither of them emerging as the one with the clear advantage from the start. Hibari's formerly pristine uniform became spattered with blood and dirt every time Dino's whip landed another stinging blow on his exposed skin, and Dino could feel every bruise and ache caused by Hibari's weapons so keenly that his head was beginning to spin from the pain. It was practically a bloodbath, a survival of the fittest that neither of them would be content to lose. Although Dino felt that he was holding up against Hibari far better than he anticipated he would, he could feel that his body was growing more exhausted with every movement. He was slipping up and making more idiotic errors of judgment the longer the fight went on, and he knew in the back of his mind that if he didn't finish it soon, today would turn out exactly the same as the previous one.

Hibari moved in for a low strike, his chest visibly heaving from the exertion. Dino stepped back to dodge and promptly tripped over a piece of fencing wire that had been hidden in the long grass. His ankle throbbed as he landed on an awkward angle and he swore out loud as he felt himself fall into the dirt.

_"Not this again. Anything but this."_

Dino could tell from the look on Hibari's face that the younger man thought he'd just claimed victory; his eyes were narrowed and his smirk was wide, and Dino was suddenly reminded of a slim, content street cat that had just caught the mouse in its trap.

"Again, Cavallone? Can you do anything without stumbling around like a weak herbivore?"

Dino grit his teeth and tried to sit up, but his foot was still snagged around the wire. He stumbled as he tried to regain his footing, and Hibari advanced on him further.

Dino shut his eyes briefly to calm his nerves, took a few deep breaths and returned Hibari's smirk with a glare. It wasn't over yet, but it was as good as over; he was more exhausted, his injuries were more serious, and he was trapped in place without enough time to free himself. Hibari took another step forward, and it was then that Dino realised that he could see his ankles through the grass. His whip was still in his hand. Staying perfectly still and trying not to betray the fact that he had an idea to Hibari, Dino continued to stare him down.

Hibari held up his weapons and took another step forward. "You were no match for me, Cavallone. A herbivore like you will never be my equal."

It was now or never. Dino dragged himself back as far as he could go and aimed the whip at Hibari's ankles. Hibari took a step backwards himself, but it was too late; the length of Dino's whip curled around his legs and stuck fast. Dino pulled hard on the handle of his whip, feeling like he was struggling with an animal fighting for its survival as Hibari struggled and hissed and fought, but he eventually overpowered the smaller boy and sent him falling into the grass. Hibari was still struggling to recover from his fall when Dino managed to right himself, and he sighed a relieved sigh when it looked like Hibari would be staying down. A moment later he was struggling again, and Dino shook his head and grinned.

"Problem?"

Hibari snarled angrily, glaring daggers at Dino from his spot amongst the long grass.

"I'm sorry that I had to do that, brat," Dino said, keeping his whip pulled tight around Hibari's legs nonetheless. "I apologise. It was a dirty tactic."

Hibari lashed out with his free hands, dropping both of his weapons at either side of his body as he lunged for Dino. Dino shuffled back a few steps and frowned.

"Stop it."

"It's not over yet," Hibari snapped in return, face burning with repressed anger as he spoke.

"What more do you expect me to do? Get down on the ground and immobilise the rest of you as well? I've already said I'm sorry for resorting to something like that, and I mean it. It was nothing but a gamble that paid off."

Hibari glared for a few moments more, but a second later Dino watched his limbs go limp and fall to the ground. Hibari shut his eyes and took a few long, deep breaths, and Dino realised that it was Hibari's way of showing he'd submitted without even saying a word. Pink was still creeping into Hibari's cheeks, but this time Dino suspected it was the result of shame rather than anger. He felt that odd twinge of a heartbeat against his ribcage again, but he ignored it in favour of stepping closer to Hibari and offering his hand.

"Hey, brat."

Hibari opened his eyes and stared at Dino for a few moments, his expression questioning. It was the first time Dino could recall seeing Hibari without an expression of boredom, anger or smug superiority.

"Let me help you up," Dino said with a small smile, unraveling the whip from around Hibari's ankles. Hibari stared for a moment more, but quickly batted Dino's hand away from him as he picked himself up off the ground.

"I don't need your help, herbivore."

"Okay, if you say so," Dino replied. "Sorry about that, brat."

"Stop calling me that," Hibari muttered, wiping drying blood from his cheek with the back of his hand. "It makes me sound weak."

"Err, sorry about that, too," Dino said, grinning sheepishly. On reflection, it didn't sound kind at all. "But I don't know your name."

"Hibari," Hibari responded, deadpan.

Dino gave him a confused look. "That's your family name, isn't it? I meant your given name."

Hibari was silent for a long, long time. Dino had just started suspecting that Hibari was deliberately ignoring him. He stretched his aching limbs and waited for a few minutes more, and it was only after he'd almost totally lost interest that Hibari spoke.

"Kyouya."

"Eh?" Dino said, dragging his attention away from the dark shadow of the lot's abandoned house in the distance.

"My name," Hibari said, sounding far more irritated at having to repeat what he'd said, "is Kyouya."

Dino stared for a moment, watched Hibari avoid his gaze and focus on his bird, who had fluttered into his palm and was now doing some sort of hyperactive, neurotic dance along the length of his arm.

_"Hibari! Hibari!"_ the bird chirped, breaking into Japanese that Dino had no chance of understanding. Hibari murmured back in his native language and ran his fingertips along the top of the bird's head until it calmed. Compared to his heavily accented Italian, the way Hibari spoke Japanese sounded strangely calm and smooth.

"Thank you, Kyouya," Dino said, allowing himself a small smile when Hibari shrugged in response.

It was possible, Dino decided, that Hibari wasn't always as violent or bratty as he'd originally assumed.

"Hey, I've got a while before I have to head home..." Dino started awkwardly, scratching at the back of his head with his free hand. He didn't really know how to break Hibari out of his strange mood, but he thought that offering another fight was the best course of action. "How about we spar again?"

Hibari stood up and raised his arm into the air, allowing his bird to fly away and into a nearby tree. When he turned around, the familiar smirk was back on his lips and gleam of superiority was distinct in his dark eyes.

"Prepare yourself, Cavallone. My tonfas will draw your blood this time."

Dino drew his whip taut between both of his hands, and waited for a mere second after Hibari picked up his tonfas to strike.

Ninety minutes later, Dino limped back home thoroughly defeated, but feeling strangely lighthearted nonetheless.

Things were going to be a lot more interesting with Hibari around.

**To be continued.**

Reviews are always very much appreciated!


	4. Chapter Four

Here's Chapter Four! Thanks to celen for the beta, as usual.

I'd like to thank the following people for their reviews: Jesse, ilovesmilingfools, The Red Undertaker, dead or alive0013, Asdfjkl, Takoizumegane and Ruby.

And to Jesse: I will look out for both of the things you mentioned, the writing style thing especially. I'll try to reduce the tl;dr a bit too, but I really like putting in ridiculous amounts of detail. I'm sorry if it's distracting or annoying. 

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><p>Dino was surprised to realise that the sound of leather again steel no longer brought apprehension and frustration. On the contrary, over the past few weeks he'd found that it had changed and evolved into a sound that he anticipated like no other, because when he heard it he knew that the next few hours were blissfully carefree.<p>

Although Dino felt that himself and his father were similar in terms of base personality, the main difference in their attitudes was that Alessandro Cavallone was extremely resistant to change. These two things had never worked in Dino's favour until the day that his father had told him it was time to learn the ropes of the viniculture business; it was only then that Dino's professional life started to shift in a more positive direction. The lessons has started out easy, with Alessandro simply setting a pile of paperwork that Dino had done hundreds of times before upon his son's desk and telling him it needed to be done by sunset. Dino had rushed some of the papers and spent too much time on the others, and the next day the papers he'd done incorrectly were returned to his desk with a note explaining that they needed to be redone. Although the words were brief, Dino had felt as if the words had carried his father's disappointment directly from the other man's head to his own. He'd felt strangely guilty for that, and had re-dedicated himself to his ultimate goal of taking over the business. Over the next few weeks, he'd become so adept at signing off the papers and checking them for errors that, as his father had succinctly put it, he'd soon be able to do all of them in his sleep. The new level of professional responsibility was daunting, but Dino knew that his father was the best man anyone could have wanted as a mentor. The day that he found the top of his desk empty save for a note saying to enjoy his day off, Dino had known that he was growing into the sort of leader his father would want him to be for the sake of the company. From there, things had only become harder, and that made him feel as if he'd been placed back at the starting blocks after finally winning the race. He appreciated his father's enthusiasm, but the sense of desperation the other man sometimes instilled in him during their lessons unsettled him, and made him feel that every mistake he made was some dire, business-killing flaw that had to be immediately rectified.

Hibari chose that moment to swing his tonfa at the side of his face, and with that one blow and the half-sting half-ache sensation that resulted from it, Dino felt his insecurities being forced to the back of his mind and the smile on his face grow. Perhaps it was merely coincidence that their meetings coincided with his free time, but when he sparred with Hibari he felt emancipated, separate from his duties and the expectations his father placed upon him. He'd have to return to them eventually - everyone had their duties, and he loved his family and the business far too much to neglect them - but having something like this to distract him in his downtime wasn't a bad thing at all.

Dino waited until the throbbing in his jaw ebbed away before attacking. Hibari smirked and dodged with ease, but underestimated the dexterity of Dino's weapon compared to his own; the whip snagged his right ankle and caused him to teeter on one foot for a moment, his balance temporarily thrown. Dino hadn't taken Hibari for a particularly expressive the first few time they'd met, but he realised that he'd been too busy watching him when he was at peace and had not paid nearly enough attention to him when he was at his strongest. When they fought, Hibari was far more emotional. He scowled when Dino avoided his attacks or outsmarted him. He smirked when Dino fell into his traps. He wore a flawless mask of concentration when planning his next move. And when he knew that he was about to deliver the finishing blow, Dino would have taken his expression as happy were it not so twisted by bloodlust-driven satisfaction. Still, he found it fascinating to watch Hibari at his best, and every time he left the confines of his home and rode Scuderia to the back of the abandoned lot, Hibari was always inexplicably waiting for him despite the fact that they hadn't planned a single meeting since the first time they'd sparred. Dino had learned to always be prepared for Hibari's presence the hard way; the first time he'd gone for a ride after their first spar, he'd once again been forced to face an irate Hibari bare-handed. Although Dino had since managed to gain a great deal more experience with the whip, Hibari always seemed to surge ahead of him with every time they met until Dino found himself convinced that his potential was practically limitless. And every time they finished their battles, bloodied and bruised and exhausted down to their bones, Dino knew that this was what he needed to balance out the more tedious parts of his father's lessons, what he longed for while he was cooped up in the office with the knowledge that the busiest, most physical part of the growing season was still weeks away. Hibari wasn't the most social or friendly of company, but he was certainly the most unique person Dino had ever met, and he found him interesting enough without having to waste time with words.

As was usual, Kyouya bested Dino in their spar, this time with a rather clever feint and a sharp blow to the chest that made all of Dino's ribs ache at once. After Dino had caught his breath and reassured himself that he was both lasting longer against Hibari and getting better at predicting his moves, he briefly glanced over his shoulder to make sure Scuderia was where he'd left him. Seeing that the horse was completely at ease and still hitched to one of the more sturdy pieces of fence that remained on the property, Dino let out a sigh and fell back into the long grass. He was relieved to see that Scuderia was becoming more used to the sounds of himself and Hibari fighting. The first few times he'd been thoroughly spooked, but he'd gradually become accustomed to their sounds and movements and learned that it was really nothing to worry about if he didn't get too close. That was a lot like what Dino himself had learned, really; Hibari at a close range was something he very rarely wanted to deal with during a spar. Hibari himself had also taken a seat on the ground, albeit with a great deal more self-restraint and elegance than Dino had. His little yellow bird was already perched in his outstretched palm, fluttering its wings excitedly and staring up at Hibari with small, dark eyes.

_"Hibari! Hibari!"_

Hibari stared wordlessly at his bird and then glanced over at Dino, who chose that precise moment to sit up properly and glance at Hibari. Dino blinked in surprise, and in that instant Hibari turned his attention back to his bird, an indecipherable expression on his face. Dino suddenly felt as if the silence between them was somewhat suffocating, despite the fact that they'd sat in perfectly comfortable silence every other time they'd come together to spar. Dino's mind was still trying to decide whether to attempt to start a conversation with Hibari when his mouth opened to speak.

"Hey, Kyouya..."

Hibari's jaw tightened, but he didn't attack or otherwise indicate that he was irritated by anything but Dino's use of his given name.

Dino scoured his mind for a topic for his poor attempt at conversation, and his eyes eventually fell back to the small bird in Hibari's hand.

"What's your bird called?"

Hibari hesitated for a moment, something Dino suspected he did just to make everyone around him feeling as if they were irritating him to the greatest extent, before glancing over at Dino to answer.

"Hibird."

"Huh?" Dino said, making sure he'd heard correctly. Hibari's expression darkened and he repeated the name once more.

"Hibird."

"That's a..." Dino started, wondering what to say about such a name in the first place, "... a nice name."

Hibari shrugged, the perfect picture of nonchalance, and raised his hand to allow his bird to hop from his palm to his shoulder. Hibird moved immediately and started singing the strange song Dino had become so accustomed to over the past few weeks. That made Dino smile.

"He's certainly a talkative little guy."

Hibari frowned at that. "He's unsettled."

Dino raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Hibari's expression became even more irritated. "He misses Namimori."

Something in Hibari's expression told Dino that Hibird wasn't the only one who missed Namimori, but he didn't dare mention it. "Namimori... like in his song?"

Hibari stared, deadpan, at Dino. Hibird stopped singing. Dino suddenly felt extremely stupid, as if both the brat and the bird were judging him.

"Your powers of observation are astounding, Cavallone."

"Brat..." Dino sighed without thinking, immediately regretting it as soon as Hibari got to his feet.

"If you want to fight..."

"N-no, I don't. Isn't what we've already done enough for the day?" Dino said, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of sweat beading on the back of his neck. To his great relief, Hibari sat back down in the grass a second later and Hibird resumed his song.

"What's Namimori like, Kyouya?"

Hibari was silent for a long time, even longer than he usually was. Dino suspected that this silence wasn't intended to put him off, but he was regretting asking the question in the first place because Hibari seemed troubled by it, in his own strange way. When Hibari finally spoke, Dino didn't get the answer he was expecting.

"Namimori needed my protection."

"Ah... why?"

Hibari didn't respond to that. Dino wondered if he even had an answer.

"Namimori was more interesting than Apocrifo is."

"It's not really hard for a town to be more interesting than Apocrifo..." Dino muttered, and the corners of Hibari's lips twitched.

"There were more herbivores in Namimori to bite to death."

"Ah," Dino said, realising belatedly that Hibari's logic was not the easiest thing to comprehend. He had a bad feeling about letting Hibari get onto the subject of fighting, too, and the sudden dangerous light in the younger man's eyes confirmed his fears. Clearing his throat and looking at anything but the dark bloodlust in Hibari's eyes, Dino decided that the best course of action was to change the subject.

"So... did you move here with your family?"

Hibari nodded slowly. Dino already knew the answer to the question anyway, but figured it was best to ask out of politeness. Dino was just about to inquire further when Hibari cut him off.

"My mother mentioned your father."

That surprised Dino at first, but after a few moments of reflection he realised it wasn't so shocking to imagine after all.

"Did she?"

Hibari nodded.

"What did she say?" Dino questioned further, realising he'd have to take the initiative if he wanted to get any more out of Hibari.

"She said," Hibari started, a small smirk on his lips, "that your father's wines are extremely basic, and that she expected much more from a winemaker made so infamous by the opinions of others."

Dino shrugged. Hibari frowned in response, but Dino couldn't tell if he was annoyed by his lack of reaction or whether he was just being Hibari. "Well, everyone has a different opinion on things like this."

"... you surprise me, Cavallone."

"Do I? Why?"

"From what my mother told me of your father, I thought your reaction would have been more defensive."

"I'm not angry, if that's what you mean. There's no accounting for taste," Dino replied, shivering when he realised the entire conversation had probably been a ploy by Hibari to try to start another sparring session. "My family values tradition and simplicity, and sticking to our tried and true methods has never failed us. Your mother's taste is just different to ours. So... I just don't see the point in being mad about that. My father, however..."

"Oh?" Hibari questioned, suddenly showing a great deal more interest in what Dino had to say.

"Well, your mother's comments were enough to force my father into attempting new blends."

Hibari snorted. "Ridiculous."

"What is?" Dino asked.

"That your family didn't attempt to change anything throughout the years. How tedious, Cavallone."

"If it were up to me..." Dino started, realising before he finished that he didn't know how to complete his own statement. What would he have done if it were up to him? Would he have broken tradition out of desperation like his father, or kept his self-confidence intact and stuck with the same methods as every other year? Dino wasn't sure, so he decided to rephrase what he was trying to say. "Sorry. My father is just a hard man to change. Doubly so when it comes to wine." He paused. "I think it's because of my mother."

Hibari remained silent but looked somewhat curious. Dino sighed a little and lay back down in the grass.

"She died. When I was very young. She always had a passion for bringing out the best aspects of the simple vintages of wine, and she shared that passion with my father. They took our family's name and business and reestablished it as their own. My mother and father made some particularly famous vintages before my mother died..." Dino said, taking a slow, deep breath before continuing. "The most famous was the one they made the year I was born, actually. So I guess it's hard for my father to let things go, when all of them remind him of my Mamma."

Hibari let the silence stretch between them once again, something Dino was actually grateful for this time around. When he finally spoke, he didn't speak of Dino's mother, which made Dino's heart flood with gratitude once again.

"My mother is the opposite. She enjoys experimentation. She only produces a wine until she finds one that she feels surpasses it, and she only falls back on old methods when necessity demands it. My family has always made wine that way."

Dino couldn't help but notice the tone of boredom in Hibari's voice when he spoke of his family's business. He wanted to question him, but felt that it wasn't really his place. In a lot of ways, he was a lot more similar to Hibari than he'd originally thought; the biggest similarity, of course, being that they were both expected to take over the family business without really having a say in it. Dino had always felt that his family was the most important thing to him, and so he'd never really been bothered with what fate had deemed right for him. However, he could certainly see why it would be frustrating to someone like Hibari, who seemed to resent everything but fighting and his bird equally.

"What about your father, Kyouya?"

Hibari frowned. "He's not with us."

"Ah," Dino said awkwardly as he sat up, falling back onto the phrase he most often heard when he told people about his mother. "I'm sorry."

Hibari shot Dino another deadpan look. "He's not dead, herbivore. He remained in Namimori."

"Sorry," Dino said sheepishly, feeling silly for jumping to conclusions. "Still, it must be hard for your mother, to be here without her husband. And for you to be here without your father."

"I'm not so weak that I have to rely on my parents," Hibari said. "I live freely."

"If you say so, Kyouya," Dino replied. "And I'm still sorry I assumed your father passed away."

Hibari shrugged lightly, and Dino sighed, still feeling rather ridiculous. He'd never met anyone else whose parent had died, and he felt stupid for jumping to conclusions so quickly. He got to his feet, stretched his arms and legs and glanced at his watch; his father had been evasive and secretive recently, albeit extremely happy about it, as if he'd been planning something big that he wasn't yet ready to reveal. As a result, he'd given Dino the entire morning and half of the afternoon to himself. It was just past three o'clock by his watch, but he'd have to depart soon if he wanted to shower and eat before meeting his father in his office at four. Hibari stood too, but he didn't walk away immediately as Dino expected him to. Instead, he glanced at Dino, looking half-interested in what he was doing.

"It's a pity."

"What is?" Dino asked.

"That your mother passed away before she could reach her full potential. It's a waste of strength and talent."

Dino felt perplexed by that, doubly so because he'd heard something so seemingly emotional from Hibari. After a few moments of consideration, he found that he didn't really mind that Hibari had said something about his mother, or even that he'd said it in that way. He'd become so used to people feeling sorry for him and his father over the years, become so accustomed to hearing condolences and sympathy directed towards himself and his father that it meant nothing to him anymore, especially when it was really his mother that they should be mourning for. He and his father still had years to fulfill their potential. His mother no longer had that chance, but it made him feel a strange warmth in his chest to know that one person, at least, had considered her before them, even if Hibari had phrased his sorrow in a particularly unemotional way.

"Hey, Kyouya?"

"What is it, Cavallone?"

Dino smiled and took a single step closer to Hibari. "Thank you."

Hibari snorted again and walked a little way into the distance to stand just next to where Scuderia was grazing. As Dino finished brushing the dirt and grass from his clothes and stretching his aching limbs, he managed to catch Hibari running his hand along Scuderia's flank in a simple, gentle gesture of kindness. Dino smiled, and silently reaffirmed his assumption that Hibari was much more benevolent that he appeared.

"Sorry Kyouya, but I have to go home now."

Hibari gave Dino a look that heavily implied that he didn't care what Dino did, and Dino knew he was back to being the usual stubborn brat that he was coming to know so well.

"I'm busy until mid-morning tomorrow, but we can meet again then if you like."

It was the first time that either of them had tried to plan one of their meetings, aside from their very first spar. Eventually, Hibari shrugged and smirked.

"I'll take any chance I can get to bite you to death, Cavallone. It's the only thing in this town that alleviates my boredom."

"Tomorrow morning it is, then," Dino said with a grin. "Around ten."

Hibari smirked once more, turned on his heel and headed for his home, something that Dino could only take as agreement. Smiling a small, happy smile to himself, he unhitched Scuderia from the broken fence, gave the horse an affectionate pat on the shoulder as he mounted him, and headed for home.

* * *

><p>Dino had been expecting many things as he'd approached home after his spars with Hibari. His father's enthusiasm over their next 'lessons' together, Romario having his afternoon cigarette at the side of the house, Baracca pacing along the fence line, waiting for Scuderia to be placed back in the paddock with him so they could both work off excess energy before being put into the stables for the night...<p>

What he didn't expect to find at all was a small stock trailer full of frightened-looking cattle. Dino blinked and reached up to rub his eyes with the back of his hands, then yelped and teetered inelegantly in the saddle as Scuderia lurched forward and towards home. Dino regained control of the horse easily and guided him around the trailer. Most of the cows were staring through the bars at him, whites of their eyes showing as they stomped around against the steel floor of the trailer and bellowed to one another. Dino shook his head and turned his attention back to the space in front of him, but was surprised to find his father standing directly in front of him, lips twitching into a smirk as Dino pulled back on Scuderia's reins to halt him.

"For a second I thought you wouldn't see me."

"S-sorry," Dino stuttered, his heart still thumping loudly in surprise. "I should've been paying more attention, but..."

"You were entirely focused on them?" Alessandro questioned, a note of affection in his voice as he turned to the trailer of cattle. "It's a natural thing, of course. You've got a good eye for animals just like I do, and these are the result of breeding from some of the finest examples of Podolico cattle in the region."

"Podolico?" Dino questioned with an uneasy smile. "Aren't they rare?"

"Yes. And expensive."

"Then why..."

"Because of the cheese they produce. _Caciocavallo podolico_. It's worth a great deal of money because of the rarity of these animals."

"But still... why? If you don't mind me asking," Dino said, staring at the cows. Although his father had complimented his eye for well-bred animals, the only animals he really knew anything about was horses. Horses were rather beautiful animals in his opinion, full of wild energy and intelligence and affection. As he looked at the animals before him, at their awkward gaits, drooling mouths and dull expressions, he couldn't really find anything about them to call beautiful.

"I first got the idea a few weeks ago. Romario suggested that I take the day off and go to one of the fairs in the neighbouring towns... can't remember which, I've been to a good number of fairs since then. All because I got the idea of breeding these animals," Alessandro said, gesturing to the cows, "and using their milk to make that one cheese. The price was a bit steep, but a few of the cows are already carrying calves. And as long as they're healthy when they're born, it'll turn out to be a decent investment."

"But... who's going to care for them?"

"I was hoping that you and I could do it... but I want it to be your job, first and foremost," Alessandro said, his expression suddenly serious. "More responsibility will be good for you... though it's not hard to care for these beasts, really. Just make sure they look well, feed them, keep their water clean... the farmhands and vet will do the rest."

"If you're sure," Dino said, still feeling slightly uncertain. He cared for the horses to the best of his ability, but he doubted that the horses and the cows were similar.

"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have bothered with any of this," Alessandro said, the slightest hint of irritation working its way into his voice. "Good wine and good cheese compliment each other, so it was a natural progression for the company. And a little bit of experience and natural ability won't do any harm."

"If you think so, Father," Dino replied, wanting to question his father's final comment but deciding against it. He didn't know how natural something as unplanned at this could be, but he wasn't willing to argue the point. He glanced at the trailer again, suppressed a sigh and turned back to his father. He was surprised to see that his expression was rather strange, as if he was struggling with an emotion that Dino couldn't quite describe.

"Your mother's family bred this breed of cow. And did a damn fine job of it too. I'm hoping that you've inherited some of her ability," Alessandro said, lips twitching into a small grin. "They made cheese too, but I'm not expecting you to do that. First and foremost, we don't have the space or the know-how, and this stuff will be too expensive to waste on practice and mistakes. Podolica cows usually produce the best milk when fed on plants you usually find in the north of the country, up in the mountains... near where your mother was from. But Podolicas producing good milk in other parts of the country is not entirely unheard of. I'm hoping that we'll prove to be an exception."

"Ah. So Mamma's family came from the north," Dino said, merely for something to say. It was strange to talk and hear about his mother so often in one day. His father usually avoided the subject, and as a result he wasn't sure how he should react when she was talked about. Most of the things he knew about her came from Romario and not his father, and as a result he knew less than he should about her. Romario had been a part of the company and practically family for as long as he could remember, but he'd come into the picture after his father and mother had married, which meant he would have only known her for about three years before her death. Dino supposed that he should miss his Mamma, but it was strange for him to think of her that way. Could you truly miss someone you could barely remember? The only thing he felt when he thought of his mother was an empty, dull ache in his chest that made him feel nauseous, almost hollow. He couldn't describe it terribly well, but it was like a mixture of regret, guilt and sadness all in one.

Alessandro's lips twitched into a smile again, but this time it seemed more sad than happy. "Chin up, Dino. It's almost time for you to start your first task to do with the cows."

That caught Dino's attention, and he forced what he hoped was a reassuring, confident smile to his face. "Alright, I'm ready. What is it that you need me to do?"

Alessandro's smile widened. "It's a good thing you have that whip with you. Getting some practice in, huh?"

"Uh, you could say that," Dino replied, suddenly aware of the weight of the leather looped around his shoulder.

"Good, good... what do you know about herding animals?"

"Not a lot," Dino said. Somehow, his father's amused smile and casual tone filled him with dread.

"Oh well. Now there will be plenty of chances for you to learn. We need to get the cattle down to the back paddock, but the ground's too soft because of the creek near the bottom of the property. I'll go and get Baracca ready and give you a hand. Think of it as part of your training."

"Alright," Dino said, trying his best to sound enthusiastic. "Sound good to me!"

Alessandro nodded and began walking towards the stables to fetch Baracca's tack. Dino looked down at the back of Scuderia's head and the wispy bit of mane on the top of his head. The horse's ears were pinned firmly against the side of his head, and Dino could only assume the racket coming from the stock trailer was putting him on edge. Dino couldn't say he felt much more confident than Scuderia did.

Once Alessandro and Baracca had joined them the back of the stock trailer was unlocked, and the cattle started filing out at a ridiculously slow pace. However, the moment Dino tried to take control of the situation and began to direct them they picked up the pace and attempted to scatter. Alessandro seemed to predict this reaction and quickly guided Baracca around the herd and guided them towards the bottom of the property.

"They're a bit worked up today," Alessandro shouted over the top of the noises the cows were making. "Dino, can you go on ahead and open the gate?"

Dino nodded and gently squeezed Scuderia's sides with his heels. The horse broke into a brisk trot that quickly accelerated to a canter, and Dino was able to reach the bottom gate and open it before his father and the herd of cows reached the it. Once they were all through and into the field, Alessandro wiped the sweat from his brow and gave Baracca a pat. He frowned when he realised how hard his horse was panting and sweating.

"I think we'll have to give you a little more exercise, boy."

Dino watched the cattle until they settled down and began to explore their new surroundings. He turned back to the path they'd used to bring them down and wrinkled his nose at the churned earth and torn grass. He still couldn't say he had a particularly high opinion of the animals, but he definitely liked them more when they were calmly grazing in the field than he did when they were in the stock truck or while he and his father were attempting to muster them.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Alessandro questioned.

Dino honestly didn't know whether his father was being sarcastic or not. His feelings must have shown quite plainly on his face, because Alessandro laughed and waved a hand back and forth, as if he was dismissing his previous statement.

"I suppose that it's a little scary the first time."

Dino didn't bother asking the last time his father had done this sort of thing because he had the sneaking suspicion that it was something to do with his mother. A moment later the smile fell from his father's face; he realised that he must have looked upset and quickly grinned. That was enough to cause the return of his father's happy mood.

"Are you hungry, Dino?"

"A little," Dino said, half-shrugging. "I can wait if there's more to do."

"No, we'll call it a day," Alessandro said. "It's getting late. Did you have a good day off?"

Dino felt the corners of his mouth twitch as he remembered the feel of the sun on the back of his neck, the cool of the breeze against his skin, the strange sense of freedom and adrenaline he felt as he aimed another attack at Hibari. He didn't know why it made him feel so satisfied to fight him, and he didn't want to question something that he enjoyed so much. But even the things that could be perceived as negatives - the injuries, the ache of his muscles and limbs, the frustration that came with a narrow loss - they didn't bother him. He simply enjoyed everything for what it was worth, and that was enough.

"No need to answer," Alessandro said, breaking Dino from his thoughts. "I can tell you enjoyed the time alone from the look on your face."

"Yeah, thanks for letting me take the time off," Dino replied, grinning in a way that he felt was somewhat awkward. He's never been good at lying to his father, and he certainly hadn't spent the day alone. Alessandro probably wouldn't have minded if it had been with anybody else, but his father's irritation towards the Hibari family made Dino hesitant to tell him about his friendship - if you could call it that - with Kyouya.

"Good to see that you're finally accepting that relaxation is an essential part of the job. Got to keep your mind and body rested to be of use, you know."

"You're one to talk," Dino said with a smile. "You're practically allergic to rest."

"That's an over-exaggeration if I ever heard one," Alessandro said, rolling his eyes. "I am merely dedicated. But now's not the time to talk about that anyway. Now it's time to eat."

Dino could only grin benignly at his father's denial as they rode back to the house together.

* * *

><p>The next day started strangely for Dino. His father woke him up early to go and tend to the cows. He'd stayed up late the night before to deal with excess paperwork, but he'd mainly found himself staring out of his window and across to the Hibari household instead of concentrating on the piles of invoices, order forms and sales records. He put it down to tiredness after a while and had crawled into bed at about one in the morning, which meant he was going to spend the day trying to survive on about five hours sleep. Once he was showered, dressed and walking down to the back paddock, he realised that he'd probably made a mistake by showering, considering that one of his new jobs was apparently carry large bales of hay from the stables to the paddock. After two or three rounds of this, he began cursing the itchy pieces of hay that had fallen down the back of his shirt, become caught in his hair, got into his eyes and nose. He didn't mind these sorts of jobs usually, but the day was already turning out to be unusually hot and his lack of sleep made him feel slow and clumsy.<p>

Once he'd finished carrying pile after pile of hay down to the waiting cattle, he dragged himself back home for a second shower and started breakfast, only to be interrupted in the middle of his meal by his father, who was apparently desperate enough for him to witness his morning meeting that he'd felt the interruption necessary. Dino had finished his coffee and refilled his cup before heading up to his father's office, only to be greeted with the sight of a man who looked extremely familiar, but he couldn't place the name of.

"There you are," Alessandro said, clearing his throat belatedly. The large window behind his desk was open and the early morning light was streaming in, making Dino's eyes water. Alessandro was standing behind his desk, his office chair still rolling back towards the window, as if he'd suddenly and recently unseated. The man sitting on the opposite side of the desk to his father turned away, looking wholly uninterested in what was unfolding around him.

After a few uncomfortable seconds, it became clear that the man wasn't going to shed any light on his own identity. Dino had the horrible feeling that he'd inadvertently walked in on an awkward situation, and considered whether laughing it off and trying to restart the conversation was a viable option. Alessandro looked between Dino and the other man a few times before clearing his throat and drumming his fingers lightly on his desk.

"You remember Nico Morelli, don't you Dino?"

Recognition quickly dawned om Dino's face, and immediately afterward he found himself smiling broadly.

"Hey Nico! It's been a long time since we heard from you!"

Nico turned back to Dino now, the barest hint of a smile on his own face as Dino walked towards him. "I've been out of the country for the best part of the last fifteen years. Wasn't as profitable as I'd hoped, in any sense of the word. Liked it better away from here, though. Didn't want much to do with Apocrifo... but times change."

Dino glanced at his father and tried to keep a straight face; he looked as if he was afraid that Nico's desire for travel outside of Apocrifo was contagious.

"How is your mother?" Dino asked, and Nico frowned.

"She passed away about two years after we moved away from here... She and Papa would go off their heads to see their home in that state," Nico replied, jerking his head in the direction of the abandoned property next to the Cavallone's own. "Which is why I plan to refurbish it and return to the business."

"Really?" Dino asked, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. The property had been abandoned for so long that he could barely remember what it looked like when it was taken care of.

"Really," Nico replied, dark eyes staring at Dino with unsuppressed boredom. "But not right now. There's things that have to be done first. It's why I'm here to talk to your father."

"We're here to discuss the use of the Morelli property until Nico is ready to move back in. It should take some months," Alessandro said. "I'm planning on letting the cows graze there until he's ready to clean the place up and move back in. We'll shift them once we've repaired a few fences and gates... don't want them wandering off, after all."

Nico nodded once, slowly, in agreement. "And in return?"

Alessandro leaned back in his chair, expression friendly but watchful. "We'll cover the cost of the fence repairs ourselves, clean up the paddocks, deal with that general sort of maintenance. And I'll be happy to add a small amount to the weekly fee for the damage the livestock will do to the area, if you're concerned."

"As long as you keep them down at the bottom of the property and away from the vineyards and the house, I have no objection," Nico said.

"Excellent. Then shall we say... 50 euros per week?"

"Don't you find that a little insulting, Alessandro?" Nico asked. He was smiling, but his eyes showed an emotion closer to annoyance.

"Not particularly, considering the amount of money we'll be putting into repairing damage that isn't ours."

Nico's eyes narrowed so minutely that Dino could have blinked and missed it. "I'd always thought you a more generous man than this, Cavallone."

"I am a fair man, not a generous one. There's a difference," Alessandro said with a thin smile. "And there's no point in trying to draw some emotional response from me. Emotion doesn't have a place here when business is involved."

Nico was silent for a moment, mouth and lips contorting in a way that made him look like he'd been forced to swallow something bitter. "You drive a hard bargain."

"I realise that. The question is... do I drive a hard bargain you can still agree to?"

Nico's lips twitched. "I suppose it's acceptable."

"Excellent, excellent," Alessandro said, leaning back in his chair. "I can prepare the documents to make our agreement official now..."

"I actually have somewhere to be," Nico interrupted, abruptly getting to his feet. "Just forward them to the address I gave you at the start of our meeting."

"Please make sure you get the forms back to me as soon as possible," Alessandro replied, watching Nico get up and walk for the door.

"Oh, I will," Nico replied. He paused at the door, glanced at Dino and reached up to ruffle his hair. "See you later, kid."

"D-do you want me to show you out?" Dino asked as he reflexively reached up to tidy his hair, but Nico shook his head and exited the room without saying another word. Dino willed the heat that threatened to rise to his face away.

Alessandro groaned and massaged his forehead with the tips of his fingers. "Thank God that's over with."

"Sorry for interrupting," Dino said, but Alessandro shook his head.

"It's fine. I actually wanted you to be here for it... but it didn't go as planned."

"What do you mean?" Dino asked, grabbing the chair Nico had just vacated and dragging it closer to his father's desk.

"I thought it'd be good for you to see how to make these sorts of deals... even if you have probably seen them a million times before," Alessandro said with a sigh at Dino's disbelieving look. "Unfortunately, Nico's personality leaves a lot to be desired."

"I don't remember a lot about him..." Dino started, and Alessandro shrugged.

"Wouldn't expect you to. He wasn't around a lot, even before his family stopped living next door, and you were young."

"I was going to say that from what I can remember, he's a lot different to his father."

Alessandro nodded. "I know them both a lot better than you would, Dino, and I can safely say the same thing. I was hoping that he'd sign the contract today to make everything official, but he had other ideas. I was going to use it as an example for our lesson this morning, but I suppose I can dig something older out of the files..."

Alessandro left his desk and walked into the small storage cupboard at the back of his office; although the office itself was large and tidy, the tiny side room they used to store the documents was another matter. Alessandro returned after a few moments, arms laden with a pile of paper so large that he was struggling to carry it.

"Father, if you need help..." Dino said, knowing it was pointless even before his father shook his head. A moment later Alessandro buckled under the weight of the papers, sending about three quarters of them spilling to his feet.

"... well, we really only needed a few anyway," Alessandro said with a dismissive shrug, and Dino bit his lip to stop himself from laughing at his father's expense.

The forms were exactly the same as the multitudes of forms that Dino had seen before; names, signatures, agreements clearly outlined in black and white so that agreements could not be broken or modified without his father noticing. The difference was that he was now getting a greater understanding of why these deals were made and how they changed the operation of the company, thanks to his father's input.

"This one dates back to when I first inherited the business," Alessandro said, a note of pride in his voice as he flicked the furled corner of the paper with his finger. "This was mainly just formality, of course... making sure that the deal they had with my father still stood with me."

Dino nodded vaguely and reached up to smooth the corners of the paper. He didn't want to bring it up, but as the papers had grown older and older, he'd noticed something about them.

_Signed: A. Cavallone_

_Witnessed: C. Cavallone_

Dino licked his lips and put the paper on the growing pile to his right. If his father hadn't spoken of his Mamma yet, he certainly wasn't planning to. He was desperate for information, all things considered; he could barely remember her, and the small snippets of information he'd received from Romario had always been followed by a recommendation to ask his father. He'd tried once, when he was younger, but he'd been blown off rather forcefully. He hadn't tried since.

The next paper was out of order, certainly newer than the last few he'd read over. It was signed by Nico's father, and appeared to be some sort of agreement relating to the use of the Cavallone's winemaking machinery. Dino frowned; why would the Morellis have needed to use their equipment in the first place? They'd been on the land for as long as his family had...

It was then that the large grandfather clock in the corner of the room sounded, signaling the start of a new hour. Dino jumped at the sound, but that small shock was nothing compared to the panic he felt when he realised what time it was.

Ten o'clock. He'd promised Hibari they'd meet at ten.

"Father," Dino said, feeling slightly out of breath as he pushed away from the desk, "may I be excused?"

"Why?" Alessandro questioned, giving Dino a look that was half-confused and half-suspicious.

Dino mentally cursed himself for not thinking the situation through in his haste; he couldn't really tell his father about Hibari, after all. The mere mention of the name Hibari was enough to make his father's mood take an ugly turn.

"... no reason. I just want to take Scuderia out, is all," Dino said. It was hardly a good excuse, but it was difficult to think of good impromptu excuses.

Alessandro was quiet for a long time, and Dino was almost certain that he'd call his terrible excuse into question... he was surprised, however, when his father stepped away from the desk to give him room to leave.

"I won't keep you any longer, then."

Dino smiled a relieved smile and stood up. "Thank you, Father."

"I do have one request, however."

Dino stopped dead. "Oh?"

The corners of Alessandro's lips twitched, apparently amused by his son's weary look. "Can you take Baracca instead? He needs the exercise."

"You think I can handle him?" Dino asked. Truth be told, he was doubtful of his own ability to handle Baracca; the horse was undoubtedly a handful.

"Of course, it's not as if he's hard to control," Alessandro said with a shrug.

"... If that's what you want," Dino said after a moment of hesitation. Alessandro smiled and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Good boy. I'll see you at dinner."

Dino nodded and turned to leave the office, uncomfortably aware that his father's eyes were on him until he left the room.

* * *

><p>Dino had hoped that his previous assumptions and caution surrounding Baracca would be proven wrong. Unfortunately for him, they weren't. Baracca was keeping up his excellent track record of misbehaving for everyone but Alessandro. When he'd first entered the stables, Scuderia had moved to greet him and it had almost physically hurt him to leave the friendlier horse behind in place of Baracca. Baracca had made it very clear from the moment that Dino had first led him away to be prepared for the ride that he wasn't about to put up with being directed by anyone but Alessandro; he tossed his head and shied away from Dino's touch as he tried to put on his tack, and Dino began to seriously consider just taking Scuderia instead for both his safety and Baracca's. After about ten minutes Baracca began to calm down, though Dino suspected it was out of boredom or tiredness rather than obedience.<p>

Baracca didn't improve as Dino rode out towards the middle of the empty lot. He wasn't actively trying to throw Dino off his back or disobey Dino's commands, but he was certainly testing the limits of Dino's patience and control by trying to speed up when commanded to keep his pace slow, tossing his head from side to side in an irritated manner, and pinning his ears back against his head when Dino tried to gain more strict control of his movements. By the time he reached the place where Hibari was waiting for him, he was relieved to be leaving Baracca hitched to one of the old building supports at the back of the dilapidated house, even though the irritated look on Hibari's face told him it would be wiser to run back the way he'd come from as fast as he could.

"You're late, Cavallone. If I can manage to be here on time without having a herbivorous animal carry me the whole way..."

"Sorry, Kyouya," Dino said, wiping the sweat from his brow as he ran to meet the younger man. "I lost track of time. Someone visited my father this morning and it distracted me."

"Why would something like that be a distraction?" Hibari asked, expression becoming more and more petulant with every passing second.

Dino looked back over his shoulder at the boarded-up remains of the Morelli house. "He used to live on this land."

Hibari frowned. "I still don't see why that would prove to be such a distraction."

"We haven't seen any member of that family for over a decade, for a start," Dino said. "They looked after us after my Mamma died. The old man who used to own this house and his wife... they looked out for my father and me. But the old man died very suddenly when I was about seven years old and his wife moved away because she couldn't look after the house by herself... she was always sick. That's how the house ended up like this."

"How did they visit you if they're both dead?" Hibari asked flatly, and Dino blinked.

"Eh? It wasn't them, it was their son. He wasn't around much when I was young... but now he's back, I guess," Dino said with a wide grin, feeling the slightest heat rise to his cheeks. "It was nice to see a familiar face. He was always nice to me."

Hibari glared and held his tonfas out in front of him, knuckles white on the grips. "I don't care."

"You were the one who asked, Kyouya!" Dino replied awkwardly, before hurriedly untangling his whip from around his arm to block Hibari's first strike.

After three quarters of an hour of sparring, Dino was the one who finally gave in and fell to the ground, head spinning from Hibari's blows and from tiredness.

"Okay, Kyouya. You win."

"Of course," Hibari replied, as if there had been no doubt in his mind in the first place. "It's not difficult to defeat you, Cavallone."

"Sorry that I don't present much of a challenge," Dino said with a grin, reaching up to wipe the mingling sweat and blood away from his cheek; Hibari had managed to land a few good hits today. He'd seemed even more irritable than usual, even, but Dino wasn't sure why.

"You brought a different horse today."

Dino blinked at Hibari, who blinked back. Dino covered up his surprise at Kyouya initiating the conversation with a smile.

"Yeah, he belongs to my father."

"He's better than the other one."

"Eh?" Dino said, his face falling. "Why?"

"He looks stronger."

"... ah," Dino said. "Is that all you judge people on, Kyouya? Their perceived strength?"

"If it looks strong, it usually is," Hibari said, watching as Hibird fluttered down from the guttering of the abandoned house and began picking a few burrs out of his clothing and hair.

"What about your bird?" Dino asked. Hibari's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Are you accusing Hibird of being weak, herbivore?"

"Ah... no," Dino said, and Hibari scoffed and rested his chin on his knees, staying perfectly still as Hibird picked little leaves and twigs out of his hair. Dino smiled and turned away for a moment, looking back towards his home. "Ah, speaking of herbivores... we'll have to share this place with some pretty soon."

Hibari gave him a questioning look, and Dino forced a smile. "My father bought some cattle. That's why the son of the former owner of this house was here this morning... my father was trying to make a deal with him so they can graze on this land."

Hibari shrugged, clearly as uninterested as he could make himself be, and Dino sighed and turned away. Although the start of the day had been hot and uncomfortable, the less-than-favourable morning had made way for a pleasant afternoon, and the sun and breeze felt good on his skin. Hibari wasn't exactly the most social of company, but he still enjoyed his presence. Once Hibird had finished picking leaf matter out of his master's hair, he launched himself off the crown of Hibari's head and into the air, singing his strange song as he went.

It was quiet for a few minutes; Dino and Hibari were still recovering from their last spar, and neither of them had anything to say. It was a comfortable silence though, and Dino found himself staring at Hibari. Fine, dark hair that moved in even the slightest whisper of a breeze, pale skin that became tinged with pink as Hibari fought... his eyes were grey, Dino noted. Why hadn't he noticed before? It was only then that he realised that Hibari was staring back at him, and he quickly looked away. Heat rushed along the nape of his neck and to his face. He swallowed against the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat and bit his lip. It wasn't as if he'd never seen Hibari before, but that had honestly felt like the first time he'd really looked at him... and he'd reacted like that. What the hell was that about?

He didn't get another second to contemplate what he'd been thinking, because Hibird came darting back over the abandoned house, chirping wildly.

_"Hibari! Hibari!"_

Hibari looked up and frowned, holding out his hand so Hibird could land in his palm. The little bird fluttered its wings against his palm and chirped phrases that Dino suspected were nonsensical even in Japanese, judging by the confused look on Hibari's face.

"What's wrong?" Dino asked. Hibari shrugged, but a second later a horrid, high-pitched neigh sounded from the other side of the house. Dino felt his stomach sink and he got up without another word and ran to the other side of the house, his heartbeat pounding in his ears as he ran. They'd been a good distance from the house thanks to their spar, and Dino grit his teeth and ran as fast as he could, ignoring all the times he almost stumbled and fell as he went.

When he reached the other side of the house, a horrible sight greeted him; Baracca was unhitched from the support at the front of the house, and blood was running down one of his forelegs from what looked like a deep laceration on his fetlock. Dino swore loudly and reached for Baracca's reins, but the horse shied away, too panicked from his injury to let Dino close to him. Dino held both hands out in front of himself and tried to approach Baracca more slowly. He could see the whites of the horse's eyes, the panic in his face as his nostrils flared and his ears fell flat against his head. As he edged his way closer to Baracca, he looked around the immediate area for anything that could have caused the injury. There were no loose nails hanging off the building, no debris that could have caused a cut that clean, nothing that looked out of place aside from the cut on Baracca's leg. He'd been untied from where he'd hitched him... had he pulled his reins in panic? Why hadn't he tried to bolt? Why was he in the same place as he'd left him when he'd left to fight Hibari? Dino frowned and took another step towards Baracca, who in turn took another step back. If Baracca did bolt, it'd be difficult to catch him, even with his injured leg.

And dear God, if that wound left any lasting mark on his father's prized horse, Dino would probably never hear the end of it.

"What are you doing, Cavallone?"

"Kyouya," Dino breathed; apparently the younger man had finally caught up with him. "Stay where you are. Don't make any sudden movements."

Dino could feel Hibari's eyes on his back; it seemed that he was doing as Dino had asked. Dino doubted that Hibari had simply listened to him, so he must have seen the injury on Baracca's leg and realised the situation was serious enough that he should obey.

Dino took another step forward; he was within reach of Baracca's reigns, but he didn't want to risk scaring the horse away, so he decided to bide his time and allow him to acclimatise to his presence.

"Good boy," Dino murmured, fingers inching towards Baracca's reins. "It'll be okay."

Baracca snorted, his ears pricking up as Dino shuffled through the long grass. His rib cage was heaving as he tried to recover from the panicked state he'd been in before, and Dino's attempts to move closer to him were necessary, but they were hardly helping. Dino took another step forward and reached for Baracca's reins, but the horse had apparently decided that he was too close for comfort; he reared back, letting out a panicked shriek as he went. Dino made another grab for his reins but missed, and the horse tried to bolt past him and towards the broken front fence of the property. Dino's heart was just beginning to sink when Hibari made a grab for Baracca's reins as he ran past and barely managed to grab them.

"Kyouya, stay still!" Dino gasped, running towards the pair. Hibari was strong, but obviously had little experience with horses; he was trying to force Baracca into calm by pulling on his reins, which just made Baracca panic more. Just as Dino reached them, Baracca made one final, panicked effort to escape from Hibari. He reared back and Hibari lost his balance, falling backwards inelegantly. Dino reached for him but couldn't make it in time, and he hit the ground with a crunch that sounded far too sickening to have resulted from just falling in the grass. Dino felt sick with worry for both Hibari and Baracca, but he reached for Baracca first; if Hibari was injured, he'd need a way to get him to a safe place. Baracca could stand walking on his injury if it was necessary. Thankfully, this time he was able to get his hand on the horse's reins and he held the horse still as he shied and pulled and tried to struggle free. He didn't try to guide him like Hibari had; instead, he let him struggle until he'd calmed, but held his reins so he couldn't bolt. Once Baracca had calmed, he reached out cautiously and ran his hand along the side of the horse's face. Baracca flinched but didn't struggle, and Dino breathed a sigh of relief. Letting out a lungful of air in relief, Dino gripped Baracca's reins tightly and walked towards Hibari, realising halfway that he was holding his breath again.

"Kyouya," Dino said softly. There was no response. "Kyouya!"

Hibari was face-down in the grass, motionless. Dino bit his lip and bent down to roll Hibari onto his back. He saw the stain of blood on the grass before he saw the injury on Hibari's face; a deep abrasion across his left temple, caused by a hidden piece of broken fence in the grass. Dino took a deep breath and tried to stop the sick feeling forming in his stomach from rising to his throat. He held his fingers in front of Hibari's nose; to his great relief, the younger man was breathing steadily. It appeared that he'd just been knocked out.

"Kyouya!" Dino said, shaking Hibari's shoulder gently. There was no reaction for a few seconds, and Dino bit his lip and swore. It was going to be a great deal harder if Hibari wasn't conscious... thankfully, a moment later Hibari took a deep gasp of air and opened his eyes, staring unfocused as Dino's face.

"... Cavallone."

"Kyouya," Dino said with a relieved smile. "Are you okay?"

"... dizzy," Hibari replied, trying to sit up and immediately falling back down.

"Just rest for a minute," Dino said. "You hit your head pretty hard."

"Don't need pity from you, herbivore," Hibari slurred, glaring at a spot that looked as if it was just beyond the top of Dino's head. "Don't need rest."

"Yes you do," Dino reaffirmed. "Just for a moment."

"Idiot," Hibari murmured, letting his head fall back against the grass, dark eyes half-lidded but slightly more focused.

"Call me what you like, just stay still," Dino said with a weak smile, and Hibari scoffed before groaning and raising his hand to the graze on his forehead.

It was another five minutes before Hibari tried to sit up again; this time he was able to sit up by himself, but he stumbled and almost fell when he tried to stand. Dino lurched forward and caught him around the waist before he fell.

"Stay still for a moment."

"I don't need your help, Cavallone," Hibari said with a scowl, making a feeble attempt to push Dino away.

"I'm going to take you home, Kyouya," Dino said, guiding Hibari towards Baracca, "but first I'm going to try and get you up on Baracca's back. It'll be quicker that way. Just hold on until I mount him, okay?"

"I'm not weak," Hibari muttered, and Dino took that as agreement.

"Okay, stand next to him and put one foot through the stirrup."

Hibari gave Dino a blank look, and Dino cleared his throat and clarified. "That loop of metal hanging from his saddle by the thick leather strap."

"I know what a stirrup is, herbivore."

"Then what's wrong?"

Hibari glared. "The horse is too tall for its own good."

Dino couldn't help but grin. Even injured as he was, he still had the stubbornness to blame everyone but himself for little things like that. "Okay, we'll take you both back to the porch at the front of the house. Will that be tall enough to help you?"

"If it isn't, Cavallone," Hibari said, swaying even with Dino's arm wrapped supportively around his waist, "you're going to be getting down on all fours so I can use you as a particularly irritating, herbivorous step."

"Okay, well... we'll worry about that if it does have to happen," Dino said with a sheepish grin, leading both Baracca and Kyouya back towards the house. Thankfully, it turned out that the small porch was indeed tall enough for Hibari to get his foot through Baracca's stirrup, and Dino helped him onto the horse's back before mounting himself. Dino was in the saddle and Hibari was pressed up against the end of it, fingers curled white-knuckled into the back of the saddle to keep himself steady. Dino guided Baracca along the unkempt brick path that led from the house to the road and through a gap in the broken fence.

Reaching the Hibari household was a slow process; Baracca was favouring his injured leg and couldn't manage more than a walk. Even if he could, Hibari's constant swaying and dizziness led Dino to think that a slow pace was a better alternative to a faster one anyway. About three quarters of the way to the house, Hibari spoke for the first time since leaving the abandoned lot.

"... Cavallone."

Dino turned around just in time to see Hibari's fingers slide away from the back of Baracca's saddle and his body lurch sideways as another wave of dizziness overcame him. Dino twisted around in the saddle and grabbed Hibari's arm, temporarily bringing Baracca to a stop as the horse tried to figure out what it was that Dino was trying to make him do.

"Kyouya, are you okay?"

Hibari made a vague grunting noise that may have been a yes, and Dino guided the younger man's arm around his waist. "Hold onto me, okay? That way I'll be able to help you if you slip."

Dino knew Hibari was past the point of caring when he didn't object to the term 'help' and did as Dino asked without hesitation. At first he tried to dig his fingertips into the curves of Dino's hip bones; Dino felt tears form at the corners of his eyes as Hibari's fingernails dug into the sensitive skin. After a moment, however, Hibari seemed to give up and simply fell against Dino's back, his head resting against Dino's shoulder. The joints of his elbows rested against Dino's sides and his fingers were curling and uncurling against the material of Dino's t-shirt as he tried to maintain his grip. Dino felt his heart rate increase and he bit his lip, unable to ignore the warmth that rose to his cheeks. _Damn it._

Dino was grateful to find the Hibaris' front gate open. He guided Baracca through the gate and along the rough gravel path leading from the road to the house. There was a person standing at the side of the house, and as they got closer Dino realised that he recognised him; it was the same man that had told him to leave the border of the Hibari property before his first spar with Hibari. The man looked up as Dino approached, his expression clearly suspicious.

"May I help you?"

"Please," Dino said, suddenly feeling short of breath. "Kyouya was injured, he needs help."

The man's expression immediately changed. He walked around to Baracca's side and finally caught a glimpse of Hibari.

"Kyou-san!"

Dino helped Hibari off of Baracca's back, and watched as the man rushed Hibari inside without so much as another word. Dino waited, gently patting Baracca's neck as the horse tried to keep his weight off his injured leg. He wanted to make sure Hibari was okay before he went home. It was partially his fault that he was injured, and he would never be able to forgive himself if any of his injuries were permanent.

About five minutes after Hibari had been taken inside the house, the side door opened and a woman stepped through, eyes immediately focusing on Dino. She was a severe-looking woman, Dino decided. Her hair was bound tightly behind her head and the delicate, traditional-looking robe she wore gave her an air of superiority and power even as she walked through the soft, muddy earth at the side of the house and towards Dino.

"You are Alessandro Cavallone's son."

It was a statement, not a question. Dino nodded, and the woman gave him a thin-lipped smirk.

"Thank you for helping my son."

"Ah, so you're Mitsuru Hibari?"

Mitsuru nodded wordlessly, and Dino lowered his head, avoiding her eyes.

"Will Kyouya be okay?"

Mitsuru raised her eyebrows at the apparently intimate use of her son's first name, but nodded again. "It appears to be just a cut to the forehead and a concussion. He just needs rest." Mitsuru paused. "The cut may need to be sutured shut."

Dino smiled weakly. "I'm relieved to hear that it doesn't look serious."

Mitsuru stared at him for a few more moments, and Dino felt sweat bead on the back of his neck; Hibari didn't resemble his mother in terms of looks, but he was certainly similar in terms of personality.

"The doctor is on his way now," Mitsuru said. "It would probably be best if you were to leave."

"I'll be out of the way in a moment... I know I have no right to request anything of you, Signora Hibari, but my horse is injured. Could I please have something to clean the wound?"

"Such as? We do not keep large animals, Cavallone."

"Saline solution, if you have any," Dino said, sliding off Baracca's back to lessen the strain on his leg. "Or even a hose with clean running water."

Mitsuru looked at him for a moment longer, and then turned and headed back into the house. Dino blinked, perplexed at her behaviour. Yes, Hibari resembled his mother without a shadow of a doubt.

A few minutes later, the man who had taken Hibari inside reemerged from the house with a bucket in his hands. He walked over to Dino and handed it to him with a little too much force for it to not be intentional.

"There is a hose just behind the house. Also, the mistress told you to give the horse water to drink while you clean his wound."

Dino nodded and gave the man a grateful smile. "Tell her thank you very much. And thank you for bringing me the bucket."

The man gave Dino another guarded look and went back into the house. Dino led Baracca around to the back of the house and found the hose that had been described. He immediately filled the bucket with water and let Baracca have his fill of cool, fresh water before gently flushing his wounded leg with the hose. The cut was definitely too clean to have been caused by anything around the area he'd left Baracca in, and he'd made sure the area was clear before leaving him. And he was sure he'd tied the horse's reins tight... damn it, he'd probably never know the cause of the injury, but it was bothering him.

Once the injury was clean and Baracca was well hydrated, Dino mounted him and guided him back to the road. There was an unfamiliar car sitting in the driveway now, and Dino could only assume it belonged to the doctor that Mitsuru had called. The ride home was as slow and tedious as the one to the Hibari household, only it was now twice as long. Dino reached down to give Baracca a reassuring pat, and Baracca tossed his head irritably. Well, that was one way for the horse to show he was feeling a little closer to his old self.

Only once he was about halfway home did Dino bother turning around to look back at the Hibari household. The unfamiliar car was pulling out of the driveway now. Dino bit his lip, thought of how pale Kyouya had looked when he was injured, thought of how he'd swayed and almost fallen off Baracca's back. He thought of how he'd felt when Hibari was sitting in the grass, how he'd felt his heart beat faster and his blood run hotter. He thought of the sensation of Hibari's fingertips brushing against his hips, and found himself shivering at the memory.

_'Damn it,'_ Dino thought, running one hand through his hair in frustration,_ 'this isn't good.'_

Dino was young, but he wasn't stupid. He knew how he felt, could read his body's own language and come to terms with the results. There were things one could not help but feel in life, emotions that you couldn't suppress at the risk of hollowing yourself out, or holding it all in until it overcame you. There was no point in wondering or denying any longer, not when the answer seemed so painfully obvious. His mind was racing, his heart was beating, and his body was responding, all to the one memory of that brat sitting in the grass, looking so amazing that it took Dino's breath... his mind, heart and body all told him the same thing.

He was, against all odds, attracted to Kyouya Hibari.

**To be continued.**

**Note:** Caciocavallo is a type of cheese, obviously. Its name literally means something like "horse cheese" or "cheese on horseback", depending on which source you believe. The podolico variety of this cheese can be quite hard to find and expensive because podolica cows do not produce a lot of milk (according to one site I found, they only produce milk in May and June).

I'll be going on a short hiatus after I post this chapter... I'm starting a new job shortly and I want time to settle in. Well, that and all my spare time is probably going to be dedicated to Mass Effect 3 for a few weeks. Sorry! I'll try and get the next chapter up soon.

Comments are always very much appreciated!


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